Probably, everyone knows about the existence of notaries - specialists involved in the preparation of legal documentation and its legal certification. The notary sphere is considered incredibly vast and complex. That is why its employees are responsible for the huge number of duties performed. It is about the powers, functions and elements of the notary’s responsibility that will be described in detail in our article.
What is a notary public?
In short, a notary public is a lawyer. He is engaged in the registration of written transactions of property and non-property nature. The notary profession today is considered quite promising and in demand, and therefore a large number of young people choose this direction.
The notary is responsible for the competent performance of their professional duties. His competence includes the execution of marriage contracts, agreements on property, wills and inheritance agreements, sales contracts and much more.
Most people turn to employees of the notary system to insure possible risks. For example, a contract for the sale or purchase of a car may not be certified. Nevertheless, some citizens secure their rights in legal form so as not to be deceived in the future.
Main responsibilities
Responsibility of a notary is related to the quality performance of all official functions fixed in the legislation of the Russian Federation. It is necessary to observe the norms of notarial production, so as not to become the carrier of certain sanctions. The main legal source with which a notary is obliged to be guided in their professional activities is the "Fundamentals of the Russian legislation on notaries."
When entering into official relations with citizens seeking help, a notary public must comply with professional ethics. Having taken over the authority to fulfill the requirements of the client, the specialist in question also assumes enormous responsibility.
The notary must fulfill the duties arising from membership in the notarial chamber. As a rule, the community of lawyers can establish their own rules and responsibilities, somewhat supplementing the "Basics of Law." In this case, the notary is responsible both to the norms of the law and to the chamber of which he is a member.
Liability Insurance
All professional functions performed by a notary public are closely interconnected. Nevertheless, legal experts are trying to classify them into several groups. First, it is necessary to highlight the functions arising from the foundations of notarial production.
The most important point is notary liability insurance. Each employee, starting his professional activity, is obliged to insure his further work. For this, a special contract is concluded with an insurance organization that allocates the insurance object. As a rule, these are small property interests. The size of the notary liability insurance should be at least 2 million rubles in a city settlement and at least 1.5 million rubles in a rural area.
Special duties
An employee who has insured his professional activity must fulfill all labor duties with high quality. In particular, a notary public employee must know and abide by the official rules established by federal or regional laws.These rules state that each notary must contain and provide a huge notarial archive. The archive requires constant care. So, it is necessary to ensure the availability and security of existing documentation, as well as to comply with the right to acquire information from the relevant papers.
In strict accordance with the norms of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, competent management of notarial office work is required. Each notary must have a special seal with the image of the Russian emblem. Information on the notary's office must be indicated on the same seal. All documentation that needs to be checked and certified is recorded using a notary seal.
Common rights
The legal status of a notary public employee consists of a number of different legal elements. This includes the duties, powers and responsibilities of a notary public. It should be noted that it is not customary to talk about the professional rights of a notary public until an appropriate legal fact appears: for example, an appeal from an interested person, that is, a client. In the absence of a legal fact, a notary public has neither duties nor rights. There is only the authority to carry out work activities.
What can you tell about the legal capabilities of a notary? To begin with, it should be noted that all his rights are divided into special and general. General rights, in accordance with Article 8 of the "Fundamentals of Legislation", give only a general idea of the private practice of the employee. Here it is necessary to highlight the right to manage the available income, the possibility of hiring and dismissing employees, the presence of property and non-property powers, the right to own an office, to a bank account, etc. In case of exceeding the legal rights and authorities, legal liability of notaries arises. It can be disciplinary, administrative or even criminal.
Special rights
The rights of notary workers arise only with the advent of a specific legal fact, that is, an interested person. As soon as a notary public registers the next client, a whole range of rights appears. In particular, it should highlight:
- drafting transactions;
- formation, verification, change, as well as registration of various documents; it can be statements, petitions, decrees, petitions and much more;
- legal advice, advice and clarification on legal issues;
- the requirement that customers provide the documentation necessary for performing notarial acts.
Regional legislation, federal "General Provisions on Notaries" may be supplemented. Simply put, in different territorial subjects of the Russian Federation the rights and obligations of notaries may vary slightly.
Professional Notary Responsibility
The responsibility of a notary varies depending on which group the specialist in question belongs to: public or private. Thus, a notary public official who performs his duties in a state company bears disciplinary liability for acts contrary to Russian law. At the same time, the damage that the notary did to his client must be compensated at the expense of the state treasury of the Russian Federation.
A specialist in the field of notarial acts, who is engaged in private practice, has a slightly different degree of responsibility. Such an employee shall compensate the damage caused to the client from his own funds. He does this by decision of the court.
Responsibility Features
The relationship between the notary and his clients has a public law basis. Accordingly, the responsibility for the lawyer is not civil, but public law. The client will have to protect his rights under the law "On Protection of Consumer Rights".
It should also distinguish between the concepts of violation of the requirements of notarial proceedings and the criminal liability of a notary. In the first case, a disciplinary or administrative penalty will be applied to the employee. In the case of a criminal case, confiscation of property by a court decision is required, as well as the application of certain sanctions in the form of arrest, fine, correctional labor, etc.
Thus, the notary’s liability is divided into disciplinary (for violation of ethical standards), property (for material damage) and criminal (for abuse of authority).
Notary system
The position of a notary may be established and liquidated by decision of the Ministry of Justice in conjunction with the Federal Notary Chamber. Decisions on the dismissal of employees are made by individual notaries. The same offices are obliged to form the salary of workers and to control the procedure for professional liability insurance of notaries.
If one notary public employee leaves, then all of his documentation related to clients is transferred to the federal justice body for storage. It is stored there until a new employee appears, ready to take on obligations to resolve old cases.
The law does not establish the terms of office of the workers in question, however, the maximum age for the exercise of powers is provided for: it is 75 years.
The concept of notarial secrecy
Professional secrecy, which is forbidden to be disclosed to the specialist in question, is closely related to the responsibility of private notaries (in some cases, state notaries). Secret itself is a category of professional ethics. Thus, workers are prohibited from divulging the content of individual documents, as well as making public information about citizens with whom they had to work. This rule also applies to dismissed employees.
There is, however, one exception in which a secret can be revealed. This is a criminal case, which can be supplemented, closed or changed by providing information contained in notarial secrets. In this case, the entity revealing the trade secret will not be charged with any sanctions.
Notary salary
An employee of the state notary public receives a salary from the amount of the state duty paid by customers. According to the law, some part of the fee goes into a notarized tariff, the cost of which is established by law.
If we are talking about a private notary public employee, then the salary is made up of the funds that customers contribute to receive the corresponding services. The cost of notarial services should not be too low or high. The relevant framework is established by Russian law. For example, for each issued certificate the employee will take no more than 3 thousand rubles, for assistance in completing the transaction - no more than 0.6% of the subject of the dispute (maximum - 1 million rubles), etc. Thus, the notary’s liability for the transaction is related with the price of the services provided.