Notaries in Austria

Civil law notaries are key players in Austria's legal system. Yesterday's good old notary has become a provider of modern services today.

There are about 495 notaries in Austria, which are spread geographically throughout 244 cities on the austrian territory.

The core activities of a notary in Austria are:

Public Deeds

Drafting public deeds is one of the core activities of a civil law notary in Austria. A document is considered a public deed if it was recorded by a notary public following the notarisation procedures laid down in the Notarial Code in compliance with all major formal requirements.

Public notarial deeds may be:

• Notarial acts
• Notarisations of legally relevant acts
• Notarial minutes

Public deeds furnish conclusive evidence of the authenticity and correctness of a legal document. They create the assumption that the deed stems from the person identified as the issuer ("authenticity"). They also create the assumption that the contents of the deed are accurate ("correctness"). Whenever a notary drafts a public deed, he must comply with stringent verification and instruction requirements. When drafting notarial acts, notaries must establish the facts, find out the "genuine intention" of the contracting parties and lay down their findings in a legally valid form. The notary must instruct the parties on the legal meaning and the legal consequences arising from a transaction. In practice, notarial instruction also covers the financial consequences of such transaction.

In Austria, the law rightly prescribes the involvement of a civil law notary for a number of transactions:

• Civil law
• Company law
• Enforceability

Notarial acts may be designed as titles of execution (enforceable notarial act). The enforceable notarial act carries all the advantages of a court ruling without being the result of litigation. It is low-cost way of creating an executory title.

Court commissioner

A major part of notarial work is done on behalf of the courts (notaries acting as "court commissioners"). As court commissioners, notaries engage in judicial activities and exercise sovereign powers. Conducting probate is the most frequent and most important activity of civil law notaries in their capacity as "court commissioners".
Probate proceedings

Probate is just one example of how civil law notaries contribute to the administration of law in Austria. Only few people know that notaries conduct some 20% of all probate proceedings free of charge. Even in the absence of an estate, the law requires that probate proceedings be conducted.

Land Register and Register of Companies enquiries

The Land Register and the Register of Companies are maintained as electronic data bases. As court commissioners, civil law notaries retrieve official extracts from the Land Register or the Register of Companies and confirm the authenticity of the extract and its contents.

At the service of the citizen

Civil law notaries are experienced advisors who provide careful guidance when setting up and executing contracts in all areas of law.
Private documents

Civil law notaries also draft private documents when neither a notarial act nor a notarial deed is required for legal statements and transactions.

Other types of contracts your civil law notary will be glad to assist you drafting or transacting include:

• Purchases, donations or transfers
• Entries in the Land Register
• Articles of association
• Entries in the Register of Companies
• Matrimony and cohabitation
• Adoption
• Divorce settlements
• Law of succession
• Probate proceedings
• Durable powers of attorney
• Curatorship
• Living wills
• Defending counsel in criminal matters
• Other representation assignments
• Notaries as party representatives

Trustee

As trustees, Austria's civil law notaries hold in escrow money and equivalent assets or documents delivered by a trustor on the basis of an escrow agreement. They undertake to bringing about the legal consequences and satisfy the conditions set out in the escrow agreement.

Notartreuhandbank (NTB) is a special bank set up for the administration of escrows. As co-shareholders, Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG and Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG have joint and several liability for NTB, which guarantees payments.

In order to administer escrow accounts swiftly and safely, Austria's civil law notaries have set up a special, computerised Escrow Register.