Sydney Law Firm Launches Online Notary Platform With Fixed Pricing and Same-Week Appointments

A new online platform has launched to make notary public services in New South Wales easier to price, book and track, in a category where quoting has traditionally happened by phone and turnaround times have been notoriously hard to pin down.

Notary Public Hub allows individuals and businesses to see the fee for each notarial act before committing, submit documents online, book an office or video appointment, and track the status of a job through to completion. Notarial services through the platform are provided by Alton Legal, a Sydney law firm with a registered public notary.

Notarisation is the step that allows an Australian document to be accepted by a government, court, bank, registry or university overseas. It affects a wide cross-section of Australians: exporters and importers asked for notarised company records by an overseas bank, property owners who are abroad when a contract must be signed, applicants for overseas visas and skills assessments, families dealing with cross-border estates, and students sending qualifications to foreign institutions.

Despite that reach, the service remains poorly understood. The most common and most costly error is assuming a Justice of the Peace can do the job. A JP witnesses signatures and certifies copies for use inside Australia only, and documents bound overseas that carry a JP's signature are routinely rejected, setting applicants back weeks.

"People almost never come to a notary because they want to," a spokesperson for Alton Legal said. "They come because a bank or a consulate on the other side of the world has sent something back, usually with a deadline attached. At that point the last thing they need is an opaque quote and a vague answer about timing."

Fixed guide pricing published upfront

The platform publishes GST-inclusive guide rates for each notarial act rather than quoting on enquiry. Current rates include an affidavit or declaration at $220, a certified copy of up to five pages at $275, witnessing a signature on a deed at $176, a power of attorney at $302.50, a corporate document such as a company resolution at $440, and a certificate of good standing with ASIC attachments at $550.

Authentication add-ons are listed separately, reflecting that these involve third-party government and consular fees. A DFAT apostille submission is $105 per document plus $220 for notary coordination, and embassy or consular legalisation is $715, with consular fees charged in addition.

A 15 per cent discount applies to Society of Notaries NSW guide notarial fees where a request is completed through the portal and paid online. The discount does not apply to pay-by-invoice requests, disbursements including DFAT, embassy or consular fees, ASIC searches, postage or courier charges, third-party charges, or hourly work outside the quoted guide items. Final fees are confirmed before work proceeds.

Realistic timeframes, separated from government queues

The platform also separates the two parts of a notarial job that are frequently conflated, and which account for most client frustration.

The notarial act itself is generally a same-day matter. Witnessing a signature, certifying a copy against its original, administering an oath on an affidavit or executing a power of attorney is typically completed within a single appointment of fifteen to thirty minutes, with the document released the same day on payment. Corporate and academic documents may require an additional business day or two where records must be verified or a certificate sourced.

The government stages run on a different clock entirely. An apostille or authentication from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, lodged through the notary, generally takes five to ten business days. Applicants who approach DFAT directly often wait considerably longer, with appointment availability in Sydney frequently sitting five to six weeks out. Embassy or consular legalisation, which can only occur after DFAT, commonly adds a further two to four weeks depending on the country and the time of year.

"We quote the government steps in weeks, not days, and we say plainly that those queues are outside anyone's control," the spokesperson said. "Any provider promising a same-day apostille is promising something that was never theirs to give. Clients would rather have an honest range they can plan around."

Demand for authentication work has grown since China's accession to the Hague Apostille Convention took effect in November 2023. Documents moving between Australia and China previously required full consular legalisation, a process that routinely took a month or more, and now follow the shorter apostille route.

AI assistance at the enquiry stage

The platform includes an AI assistant that answers preliminary questions in plain language, including the distinctions between certification, notarisation, apostille and consular legalisation, and helps users identify what a particular document requires before any payment is made. The assistant and the technical platform behind the site are provided by lawplexity.ai, an Australian legal AI company.

Services are offered in English and Mandarin, reflecting the volume of notarial work involving documents moving between Australia and Asia. Appointments are generally available within the same week.

The platform currently serves clients in New South Wales who are able to attend the Sydney office.

About Notary Public Hub

Notary Public Hub is an online booking and submission platform for notarial services, offering fixed guide pricing, online document submission and payment, appointment booking and job status tracking. The website is a booking and submission platform and does not itself provide notarial services. Web: https://www.notarypublichub.com.au

About Alton Legal

Alton Legal is a Sydney law firm practising across commercial and corporate law, property, construction and planning, immigration, family law, wills and estates, finance, employment, intellectual property and information technology, criminal law, and notary public services. The firm holds a 5.0 rating across more than 80 Google reviews and operates in English and Mandarin. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. Web: https://alton.legal

About lawplexity.ai

lawplexity.ai is an Australian legal AI platform providing research, drafting and document workflow tools for individuals, law firms and professional teams, including client-facing intake and enquiry systems. lawplexity.ai is not a law firm. Web: https://lawplexity.ai

Media contact

Veronica Liu, Alton Legal Telephone: 02 8003 3999 Email: info@alton.legal. Level 9, 370 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Prices quoted are GST-inclusive guide rates current at the date of this release and are subject to change. Timeframes for DFAT and consular steps are indicative only and depend on third-party processing outside the provider's control. This release is general information and does not constitute legal advice.