What is an „Apostille“?

What is an "Apostille"?

What is an „Apostille“?

In German inheritance law, the probate court usually asks for documents that have to be provided with an “ Apostille „. But: What is an „Apostille“?

Asking for an Apostille means that the document needs to be „legalised„, in other words that another, higher authority confirms its authenticity.

How that can be done depends on the state and the authority, in which the document was originally issued.

There is a lot of differences between the legal systems, which is why it can be worth to ask first the probate court what kind of legalization or „Apostille“ they need from your special country or the state where the documents stem from (which does not have to be your country).

Prices for legalisation also vary a lot between the different countries, but they cost around 30,- € usually, give or take. But the money you might waste by getting a useless legalization is maybe not even the worst. Even more annoying could be the waste of time – by getting a stamp from somewhere, then sending the documents to the German probate court – and then weeks later getting the information that this paper was not the one they needed. 

It is wiser to ask someone competent to give you or get you a reliable answer. 

If you need competent advice in English, you can contact us here

Dr. Donat Ebert

Ügyvéd - Rechtsanwalt (HU, D)

Title
Caption
File name
Size
Alignment
Link to
  Open new windows
  Rel nofollow