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
A group photo on Instagram, a photo of an employee at a company party, a video manipulated using AI: Such situations are commonplace today, and the legal issues they raise are anything but trivial. Every person has the right to determine what happens to their image, whether it be a photograph, video or digital representation. This so-called right to one’s own image is not a matter of course, but a legally protected asset that is firmly enshrined in Swiss personality rights. Anyone who uses, exploits or disseminates another person’s image without their consent is, in principle, acting unlawfully. The Swiss legal system offers a multi-layered protection system through Art. 28 of the Swiss Civil Code (CC), Art. 179quater of the Swiss Criminal Code (SCC) and the revised Data Protection Act, although the limits of this system are tested daily in the digital sphere.
As digitalization advances, people today leave behind not only traditional assets but also a wealth of digital content and traces on the internet, in IT systems, and on storage media. Digital estates are not limited to personal data but encompass a wide range of digital assets and accounts. Since settling a digital estate in the event of inheritance often involves legal and practical challenges, it is advisable to establish appropriate ar-rangements and take precautionary measures during one’s lifetime.
Trademarks have become indispensable in everyday business: they are signs used to distinguish the goods or services of one company from those of others (Art. 1 para. 1 TmPA). Trademarks thus serve both a function of indicating origin and distinguishing products. However, anyone seeking to register a trademark will not obtain protection in every case. The law provides for so-called grounds for refusal, which prevent certain signs from being protected as trademarks at all.