Application for appointment as a Public Notary
- Once a person has completed a course of study related to notarial practice approved by the Victorian Legal Admissions Board, you must make an application via the VLAB online application portal available here (External link). The portal will take you though a series of questions listed below.
- Once you have been granted a Certificate of Eligibility by VLAB, you must then continue your application for appointment to the Supreme Court of Victoria via their Red Crest portal available here (External link).
- You must upload Form 2-15D Notice of Intention to Apply for Appointment (External link) as Public Notary to the VLAB online application portal available here (External link). VLAB will publish your notice of intention on your behalf.
- You must file Form 2-15F Notification After Appointment (External link)with the Supreme Court of Victoria and the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner.
- Log back into the VLAB client portal to finalise your appointment as a Public Notary available here (External link).
Step One - VLAB Application
Contact details including change of name
Contact details including name, date of birth and residential address will be required. Note: employers address not to be provided, suburb/city cannot be a capital city unless you live in the capital.
If you change your name and it differs from that on your documentation (transcript, ID etc.) and you wish to be appointed in your new name, a certified copy of either your marriage certificate or your change of name certificate is to be uploaded in the online portal.
Supplementary collection of personal information such as ancestry and languages spoken are optional questions listed in the online portal.
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Applicant consent is required for all applications made via the online portal. Questions will relate to VLAB sharing information or making enquiries from third persons for the purpose of applying for admission. This can include health information and identification verification.
If you do not agree to consent, an application cannot be commenced, and you must make contact with VLAB.
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Form 2-15E Oath and Affirmation
You may wish to make an affirmation or take the oath of office at your appointment ceremony. Please consider your response carefully as you will not be able to change it in the future. The oath of office will be read aloud, and you will be asked to say "I swear by all mighty God to do so" on your chosen religious text. If you are making an affirmation of office however, you will be asked to say "I do so declare and affirm." See Form 2-15E Oath of Office. (External link)
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To assist in determining what maters should be disclosed, you must read the Suitability Guidelines for Public Notaries.
Disclosure Statement
You must make full disclosure of any relevant matters in a statutory declaration and exhibit documentary evidence to support the essential details of the matter/s you are disclosing. A disclosure is only required if you have a matter to disclose as per the Suitability Guidelines for Public Notaries. Do NOT attempt to upload a Disclosure Statement that states there are no disclosures. In the event that you have nothing to disclose, it is not a requirement that you upload a declaration. All disclosures are to be uploaded in the online portal.
The Public Notary disclosure statement template can be found here.
Nil Disclosure
If you have no matters relating to suitability you will be provided with a statement to attest to nil disclosure.
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To be eligible for appointment as a Public Notary, we must confirm your identity. Two forms of identification must be provided, one must include a name and address which must match that on your application.
All ID docs are to be uploaded in the online portal.
The list of acceptable forms of ID can be found here.
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Application for Certification of Eligibility
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Notarial Practice Certificate
A certified copy of the Certificate of Completion of an approved Public Notaries course is to be uploaded to the VLAB portal.
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Certificates of Fitness must be ordered from the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner. Further information can be found on their website (External link). A certified copy is to be uploaded to the VLAB portal.
The Certificate of Fitness must include the following content:
- that you are in good standing and are not subject to any current or pending disciplinary matters;
- the date on which you were admitted;
- the historical record of practising certificates held by you, including specifically any duration when you have held a Principal Practising Certificate; and
- must be issued within 28 days of the date your application for appointment is received.
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Fees for Certificate of Eligibility
Prior to submitting your application for the Certificate of Eligibility, you will need to make payment of the Certificate of Eligibility fee to the Prothonotary’s Office of the Supreme Court at admissions@supcourt.vic.gov.au (External link).
The Court will contact you to take payment over the phone. Please ensure you keep the receipt that is emailed to you.
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Step Two - Supreme Court of Victoria
Once you receive your Certificate of Eligibility issued by VLAB, you must lodge an application for appointment as a Public Notary with the Supreme Court of Victoria. This must be done via the Court’s RedCrest (External link) portal within 30 days after the date of issue of the Certificate of Eligibility.
Form 5D of Chapter 1 of the Supreme Court Rules
AND
Form 2-15C Affidavit in Support of Application for Appointment
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Step Three - Notice of Intention - VLAB
Form 2-15D Notice of Intention to Apply for Appointment as Public Notary
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Step Four - Notification After Appointment - SCV and VLSB+C
Form 2-15F Notification After Appointment
Within one month after appointment, a Public Notary must file notification of particulars and specimen seal using Form 2-15F Notification After Appointment (External link). The completed form must be addressed to:
- Prothonotary's Office of the Supreme Court: 210 William Street, Melbourne 3000; and
- Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner: GPO Box 492 Melbourne 3001
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Step Five - Notification After Appointment - VLAB
VLAB notification after appointment acknowledgement
Once you have filed the Form 2-15F Notification After Appointment with the Supreme Court of Victoria and the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner, you must log back into the VLAB client portal here (External link) to finalise your appointment as a Public Notary.
This is done by ticking the relevant acknowledgements AND clicking the finalise and submit button. Only once you have completed this step will your application for appointment as a Public Notary be finalised.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I do not meet the eligibility criteria for appointment as a Public Notary, can I still apply?
The listed eligibility criteria are prescribed by legislation. If you do not meet the eligibility criteria, please contact us for advice before commencing any application.
Who is an authorised affidavit taker?
A complete list of authorised affidavit takers can be found on the Victoria State Government website via the following link (External link)
Who can witness my statutory declaration?
A list of authorised statutory declaration witnesses can be found on the Victoria State Government website here (External link).
I have uploaded my disclosure statement will I receive a response?
You should allow a minimum of 10 business days for your disclosure statement to be fully reviewed. You will receive an email to confirm receipt and also when it has been assessed to advise approval or referral for further review. Disclosure statements that have not provided a full and frank account of matters or are significant may require an applicant to file a further disclosure statement with additional material.
Accuracy of documentation
You should refrain from providing incorrect responses to application questions, or uploading draft or dummy documents to enable you to proceed through the admission application before ready to do so as this can result in a delay in your admission.
I am required to upload in PDF however I don't have access to a scanner
All documents uploaded to your application must be in PDF format and no more than 2GB. Only matters of suitability will be able to upload up to 65GB. For all suitability matters, collate your disclosure/capacity statement, exhibit certificates and exhibit documents into one file. There are many free apps available to download to a smart phone or tablet which will convert an image to a PDF document. Please search the App Store or Google Play for a suitable application.
In what format can I upload my documents to my application?
All documents uploaded to your application must be in PDF format and no more than 2GB. Only matters of suitability will be able to upload up to 65GB. For all suitability matters, collate your disclosure/capacity statement, exhibit certificates and exhibit documents into one file
How do I get my documents certified?
Certain documents are required to be certified, you can find an example on how to do this here (External link).