Notary Public Services in Dubai for Individuals and Businesses

First: Powers of Attorney

A Power of Attorney is a contract by which the principal places another person in their position for a specific, defined legal act — as established in civil law jurisprudence, including the analysis set out by Al-Sanhouri in Al-Waseet. It is settled that a General Power of Attorney confers only acts of administration, while disposal acts such as sale, mortgage, acknowledgement of debt, and settlement require a Special Power of Attorney that identifies the act with sufficient precision to exclude ambiguity. Dubai’s Notary Public works within this distinction: it will not certify a blanket formulation covering everything, but only a POA of an approved type — general POA, real estate POA (general or special), vehicle POA, litigation POA, company formation or management POA.

Our role here is to classify the purpose, select the appropriate type, and draft the clauses to satisfy the authority where the POA will be presented — whether Dubai Land Department, Roads and Transport Authority, a court, or a bank — because what the Notary Public accepts may not be enough for these authorities if the scope of authority is left unclear.

Second: POA Revocation

The default position under civil law principles is that the principal may remove their agent or restrict the POA at any time, unless the POA was granted in the agent’s interest or a third party’s right has attached to it. The removal, however, is not enforceable against the agent until the agent has knowledge of it, nor against third parties until they have knowledge. This means notarising the revocation alone is not enough — a Legal Notice must be served on the agent and the date of their knowledge established; otherwise their acts remain binding on the principal against anyone who dealt with them in good faith.

Third: Meeting Minutes & Partners’ Resolutions

A resolution of the General Assembly or the Board of Managers is a document required by banks, Economic Departments, and execution courts — and it is not accepted unless it was issued by those who hold the quorum to issue it under the Memorandum of Association. The Notary Public cross-references the names of the signatories against the trade licence, the MOA, and its latest amendment: if an absent partner’s signature is required under the MOA, or the quorum is not met, it will decline to certify. This is why we begin by reading the MOA before we write a single line of the resolution.

Fourth: Memoranda of Association and Amendments

Article 14 of Federal Decree-Law No. (32) of 2021 on Commercial Companies requires that a company’s constitutive document and every amendment to it be in Arabic and notarised before the competent authority, on pain of nullity. Notarisation of the MOA, share sales, partner entry and exit, and dissolution is therefore a validity condition, not a mere administrative step. Some of these documents require the prior approval of the Economic Department or the free zone authority before notarisation — not after — and anyone who gets the sequence wrong pays the fee twice.

Fifth: Certified True Copies

Notarised documents have originals kept on file with the Notary Public, and the parties may obtain an official certified copy when the original is lost or when another authority requires an authenticated copy. This service is available from Dubai Courts and from the Ministry of Justice, each for their own documents.

Sixth: Legal Notice

A Legal Notice is the instrument through which formal notice is established — a prerequisite under civil law principles for liability for delay and for the right to claim compensation. A notice that is issued but not served is as if it never existed from a legal-effect standpoint. It is used in financial claims, eviction and tenancy notices, contract termination, POA revocations, and partner notices. We do not consider the task complete when the notice is issued — only when it is served.