How to find out about the validity of the form from a notary
Any document that has been certified by an authorized notary contains contact information, using which you can contact this specialist. To verify the authenticity of a document, you can always use them and contact the lawyer who certified this document, but it is worth noting in advance that this service is paid.
No notary can protect himself from the actions of fraudsters, since forms can be forged in the same way as company seals with signatures.
In this regard, if the notary’s database does not contain information about the requested document, this does not mean that this person is in cahoots with criminals. Often such news is a direct signal for specialists to contact law enforcement agencies.
Why check them?
The need to verify powers of attorney is dictated by the practice of concluding transactions and related cases of fraudulent activities.
So, scammers can use:
- a completely false power of attorney, which was not actually issued;
- an expired power of attorney, which for this reason no longer has legal force;
- revoked power of attorney, powers under which are terminated at the will of the principal.
Transactions concluded on the basis of these documents are invalid and may subsequently give rise to legal proceedings. Often this situation leads to financial losses for one of the parties. This conclusion can be drawn from Art. 174 and 183 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
By the way! Not only the parties to the transaction and their representatives, but also representatives of the investigation, courts, bailiffs, and notaries can carry out verification.
When you might need it
Verifying a power of attorney is not one of the procedures provided for by current legislation as a mandatory stage of concluding a transaction, but experts recommend that you carefully review any documents, especially if there is reason to doubt their authenticity.
In the vast majority of cases, online verification of powers of attorney is carried out in one of the following registration situations:
- agreements for the purchase and sale of expensive property;
- documents on the basis of which expensive property will be disposed of;
- transactions related to the financial interaction of individuals or legal entities.
How to check the authenticity of a power of attorney
The norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation give the right to conclude a transaction on behalf of one of the parties and represent its interests. This is discussed in Chap. 10 of the Code. The document certifying this right is a power of attorney issued to the representative. The other party to the transaction has the opportunity, and often the need, to verify its authenticity. The complexity and degree of reliability of such verification depends on the type of power of attorney. How to check the authenticity of a power of attorney, who can do this, what information is needed for verification, we explain in our material.
Who has the authority
In accordance with the current legislation, which establishes a ban on the transfer of information about documents executed through a notary, only the following categories of persons can obtain information about a power of attorney:
- parties directly involved in the process of drawing up this document in the presence of a notary;
- legal representatives in whose name the power of attorney was issued;
- authorized judicial or investigative officials;
- bailiffs who require this information to perform their professional duties;
- notaries.
How to check
So, the legislation defines three types of powers of attorney: notarized; not notarized, but equated to such; power of attorney without certification. They are checked in different ways.
When notarizing a power of attorney, the notary takes full responsibility for it. The certified document is entered into the database of the Federal Notary Chamber. There is a special FNP service https://reestr-dover.ru/. After following the link, the user will have to fill out a form in which he enters:
- registration number of the document - it can be seen next to the notary’s signature;
- date, month, year of issue;
- Full name of the notary (just enter the first three letters, and the system will display a list).
Using the “Find” button you can get the result:
- the document has been found and is valid;
- the document was found, but not all details match;
- the document is not valid, canceled by the principal;
- document not found.
If the details do not fully correspond to the data, it is necessary to clarify the terms of representation with the notary in person. Information about canceled powers of attorney is placed in a separate tab on the service for the convenience of users and maximum transparency of information. If the document is not found, it means that the notary did not notarize it.
Peculiarities
In connection with the above limitation, the procedure for verifying a power of attorney provides a number of features that are best familiarized with in advance before attempting to find out information about this document.
When you can't find out
In some situations, even using an Internet service does not make it possible to obtain up-to-date information about the power of attorney.
The reason for this may be:
- lack of information about the document on the official website of the notary chamber;
- lack of certification of this document by a notary;
- checking it on the day of registration.
In this case, it is recommended to check your doubts directly with a notary or with representatives of the territorial self-government body.
If, for confirmation of a power of attorney, a person decides to go to a prison, military unit or similar institutions in which responsible persons can act with powers similar to a notary, then in this case one can only hope that the archive is safe and sound, and to this day it contains information about the granted power of attorney.
In practice, this information is often lost. A simple power of attorney can be easily verified by contacting the person to whom the document was provided. Moreover, in some cases this is also not so easy to implement, but in any situation, if any doubts arise, experts recommend postponing the transaction and further checking the information.
What to do if the power of attorney is revoked
Verification of this document can also be performed through the official website of the notary chamber.
To do this you need:
- Go to the section “Information on cancellation of the power of attorney.
- Click on “Search”.
- Enter the following information: the registration number of the power of attorney provided during the registration process, the date of certification of the document and the necessary information about the notary by whom the power of attorney was certified.
- Click "Find".
What to do if you have created a simple form
Powers of attorney are often drawn up without the involvement of notaries, and in such a situation, when using them in various transactions, doubts about the authenticity may arise. It is likely that the principal, in principle, does not realize that somewhere there is a paper in which he allegedly transferred powers to third parties.
If it is not possible to verify the authenticity of a received document online, the only option is to personally contact the principal for confirmation. If this cannot be done, then it is recommended that you carefully read the text, since scammers often make mistakes when trying to falsify a document.
In particular, pay attention to:
- correctness of full name;
- correctness of entering passport data;
- current registration address.
The last way to restore legality is to conduct a handwriting examination, but this procedure is performed only upon receipt of an appropriate decision from the court.
Simple and notarized powers of attorney
Not every power of attorney requires notarization. According to the Civil Code (Article 185.1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), it is necessary in three cases:
- if the transactions for which it is issued must be certified by a notary (for example, when alienating apartment shares to third parties or in transactions involving minors);
- if the document is needed to submit an application for state registration of rights;
- if the power of attorney was issued to dispose of rights registered in various state registers.
In other circumstances, the power of attorney is certified by a notary at the request of the parties to the transaction in order to give the document weight. If such a desire does not arise, the principal has the right to draw it up in simple written form, indicating to whom, what authority and for how long he is going to transfer. The issuance of a power of attorney means that the trustee receives the authority to act on behalf and in the interests of another person (the principal).
It is easier to check a notarized power of attorney, since its details are entered into a special register, partial access to which has been open to all interested parties since 2017. Accordingly, a simple power of attorney does not fall into it. However, there is also some chance to check its validity. Lawyers strongly recommend making every effort to verify the power of attorney, whatever its form.
Merchant checking power of attorney
What data can be entered:
A search in the register of legal entities makes it possible to find an organization by identifiers (TIN/OGRN/OGRNIP/OKPO), name of the enterprise, address, subject of the Russian Federation.
Search for individuals is carried out by full name. founder/manager, place of birth.
Searching results:
It is worth noting that the search by identifiers is “exact”, so the result will be a card of the desired legal entity.
When requesting by company name, address, full name. founder/manager, the search result will be a list of organization cards in which a match was found for the entered value.
Additionally:
In addition to search queries by details in this register of legal entities, you can perform a “one-line search”. For example, when entering your full name. manager and company name, the search will only be based on those cards in which these two values occur. The combination of values increases the relevance of the search engine results (high matching of the entered query with the answer to it), which makes it possible to quickly find the company or individual you need.
Notices of liquidation, reorganization
What data can be entered:
To search for messages from legal entities published in the journal “Bulletin of State Registration”, enter a query in the search form consisting of identifiers (TIN/OGRN) or the name of the legal entity.
Searching results:
In the search results by identifiers, the search engine will display a list of messages submitted by this legal entity.
When you search by organization name, you will receive a list of messages containing this search query. Please note that the names of legal entities may be the same.
Additionally:
You can read the full text of the messages and, if necessary, order a copy of the page of the journal “Bulletin of State Registration” with this message. To order, you must log into your personal account/register on the website.
Information about the cancellation of powers of attorney
What data can be entered:
INN/OGRN/Name of organization/Full name. principal, participant in the case, authorized representative, notary;
Searching results:
The search result will be the full text of the message about the revocation of the power of attorney, published in the Kommersant newspaper, which contains any of the parameters used in the request.
Additionally:
You can specify the time interval in which the publication could be made.
Bankruptcy messages
What data can be entered:
There are several search parameters: by case number, by arbitration manager, by SRO, by debtor and organizer.
Searching results:
- messages submitted by the arbitration manager;
- a list of all arbitration managers indicating the SRO and identifiers (TIN, registration number);
- the desired organization with address and identifiers. Below will be displayed a list of arbitration managers included in the SRO;
- a short message text containing information about bankruptcy with the required parameter.
Additionally:
You can limit your search results by selecting the time period you want (for example, November 1, 2012 - December 1, 2012). This will display all published bankruptcy information for the specified time period.
Arbitration practice
What data can be entered:
Case number, name of court, full name. participant in the case or judge.
Searching results:
- arbitration court ruling;
- a list of arbitration cases in the materials of which a match was found for the entered query;
- list of arbitration court decisions;
- a list of cases in whose materials a match was found for the entered query.
Additionally:
For a more convenient search, the section has a filter based on the date of registration of the case, which allows you to specify the search results.
It should be noted that full name. participants in the case or the judge are not absolutely accurate indicators, since they may coincide with the name or full name. participant in another case.
Intellectual property
What data can be entered:
Patent number or name, full name patent holder.
