Notary's Office
We perform public certifications for our clients for various legal transactions and notarise signatures, data and documents both in national and international contexts on the territory of the Canton of St.Gallen. At the same time, we offer our clients a comprehensive package of services ranging from consulting to the structuring of legal transactions, the formulation and drafting of required documents all the way to legal certification and/or notarisation. Even after completing public certification, we are available to provide our clients with advice and support at all times.
Certifications
We certify for you:
- All certifications in matters related to the Commercial Register
- Formation of companies (PLC/AG, Ltd/GmbH, etc.)
- Amendments to the articles of association
- Capital increases
- Capital reductions
- Mergers
- Divestitures
- Assignment of company shares
- Prenuptial agreements
- Last will and testament documents
- Testamentary contracts
- Inheritance renunciation agreements
- Public last will and testament documents
- Establishment of foundations
- Surety obligations
- Declarations of intent, ascertainment, affidavits etc
Notarisation
We notarize for you:
- Authentication of signatures
- Authentication of copies or transcripts
- Authentication of calendar data
- Authentication of translations
- Authentication of other documents
Patient decree and advance care directive
The patient decree and the advance care directive are ruled by the Civil Code in the law on protection of adults. They allow to define orders for the case that loss of capacity of judgement occurs. Be it by an accident, by disease or by senile decay.
On the one hand, a judicious person can define in a patient decree, to which medical measures he agrees or not. He can designate a natural person who discusses in case of loss of capacity of judgement with the attending doctor the medical provisions. The patient decree facilitates relatives as well as doctors to decide in difficult moments.
Concerning the advance care directive, a judicious person can instruct a natural person or a corporate body to resume in case of loss of capacity of judgement the personal custody or the statutory duty of care of a minor’s property or to represent him in legal matters. In doing so, he must describe the duties which he will transfer to the assigned person and can issue directives for the accomplishment of the duties. The advance care directive strengthens the right of self-determination, because who looks ahead, can assure that his intention will be respected.
An advance care directive is either hand-written and signed or publicly certified. Our notaries will gladly provide advice on establishing an advance care directive and will carry out public notarizations where requested.
Depositing wills, inheritance contracts and advance care directives
Wills and inheritance contracts may be kept either by the respective person, handed over to a third party for safekeeping (e.g. a notary) or deposited with an official authority. If requested, we will organise the depositing of the will or inheritance contract with a competent authority.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to officially deposit advance care directives. However, we will ensure that the authorities are bindingly informed about the existence and depository of the advance care directive.
Organisation of apostilles and legalisations
We are happy to provide the service of obtaining apostilles and legalizations (authentications) in cooperation with the State Chancellery of the Canton of St.Gallen and with the respective foreign embassy or consulate. By means of an apostille, documents that were publicly certified in Switzerland also become recognised abroad. As part of our apostille service, we provide prompt obtainment of apostilles for your original documents and, according to your instructions, send these by post or courier service to an address in Switzerland or abroad.
Your Experts
Focus
As a matter of principle, arbitration proceedings in civil disputes must be preceded by an attempt at conciliation (Art. 197 ZPO). The aim of such a conciliation hearing is, on the one hand, to relieve the burden on the courts and, on the other hand, to give the parties the opportunity to find a sustainable solution.
Company succession under inheritance law often poses major challenges, as the current Swiss inheritance law does not recognise any special provisions for companies. This is why the Federal Council is proposing specific measures to facilitate company succession in its dispatch of 10 June 2022. The first amendments to the law on compulsory portions already came into force on 1 January 2023. The aim of the reform is to ensure greater stability for companies.
As is well known, the partially revised Code of Criminal Procedure came into force on January 1, 2024. The aim of the revision was, among other things, to improve the suitability of individual provisions in practice, but also to enshrine the long-standing case law of the Federal Supreme Court in law. The amendments have also resulted in procedural changes from the perspective of the defense or the accused.