5 June 2024

Pride Month 2024 notary services

This Pride Month, we are highlighting the services that we offer to help those who are celebrating. Read on to find out more.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Whether you are planning a same-sex wedding abroad, or want to officially change your name or gender, you may need the assistance of a Notary Public this Pride Month.

For example, our Notary Public of England and Wales, Nathan Woodcock, can notarise your documents, assist with you legalising your documents, or act as a witness to the signature of your documents, amongst other things.

There are many different types of documents that we can help you with, and many of them are useful to the LQBTQ+ community who will be celebrating Pride Month. We shall highlight a few of these documents, and take you through what they are, and how we can help. Additionally, we are offering a 20% discount on LGBTQ+ notarisation matters, which you can learn more about at the end of the blog.

Marriage documents

Depending on where you want to get married, you will need different documents. Some countries will have different rules for same-sex weddings, which includes having to provide different documents, so it is a good idea to check what the rules are first.

Additionally, some countries will only recognise civil partnerships, and will not allow you to have a full wedding.

You can use the British Government’s online tool to check what the different requirements you have to meet are for each country. Please note that some countries still do not even allow same-sex civil partnerships, so you will need to make sure the country you want to get married in will not discriminate against you.

Some countries, such as Turkey, have very specific rules surrounding same-sex weddings. In Turkey, you can only get married if you are both British citizens, and it will have to take place at the British Consulate in Istanbul.

Some common marriage specific documents include:

Certificate of No Impediment – this proves you are free to get married
Letter of No Trace – proves that you have not got married in the UK

Other countries may have documents specific to their own country. As we have said previously, please check the required documents using the Government’s tool.

These documents will need to be notarised and legalised for them to be accepted in the country that you are going to.

Statutory Declarations for Pride Month

Statutory Declarations can be very versatile. They can be used for situations ranging from businesses declaring insolvency, to wills, and change of names. You may even find a use for one this Pride Month.

Situations that people who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community may find useful include a Statutory Declaration for a change of name, and a Statutory Declaration for a Gender Recognition Certificate. We will go into a bit more detail about the Gender Recognition Certificate in the next section.

Transgender people, and anyone else looking to officially change their name by deed poll, will need a Statutory Declaration. This is usually made by someone who you know, as the declaration will be to prove that you are who you say you are.

Due to the various types of Statutory Declarations for different circumstances, they will need to be drafted in a certain way to include all the information that is relevant to your particular situation. You can do this yourself, but it may be best to get someone else to do this for you. For example, a legal firm such as ourselves.

Getting professional assistance means that you are much less likely to forget any crucial information that needs to be included. Your Statutory Declaration will be drafted to a professional standard, and you will not have to worry about getting it done by yourself.

Gender Recognition Certificates

The Gender Recognition Certificate is a document that allows your chosen gender identity to be legally recognised in the UK. It is particularly useful for transgender people.

The certificate can be used for various situations, such as having your UK birth or adoption certificate updated.

In some cases, you might need to get your Gender Recognition Certificate notarised. For example, to prove your gender abroad when applying for a passport, or to get married.

Alongside being notarised, your certificate will also need to be legalised or given an apostille from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to be used abroad.

How we can help this Pride Month

This pride month, you can save 20% on select LGBTQ+ related notarisation services, such as weddings and Gender Recognition Certificates!

Our Nathan Woodcock can help you in any matters related to drafting, notarising, or legalising documents during Pride Month and beyond.

The notarisation process is straightforward, and simply requires a stamp and signature from Nathan. Alongside notarisation, you may also need to get your document legalised.

For most countries, apostilles from the FCDO are used to legalise documents. For countries that do not accept only apostilles, you will need to go through the more complicated process of embassy legalisation. We can manage either form of legalisation for you.

To meet Nathan, you can book a notary appointment at one of our offices in either London, Manchester, or Sheffield. Alternatively, if you do not think you will be able to make it to one of our offices, you can arrange for a home visit using our mobile notary service.

Get in touch with us today to see what we can help you with this Pride Month.