Notary's office

What does notarization mean?

The beginnings of the independent professional notary's office can be found in antiquity, but it was not until the 11th and 12th centuries in the large cities of northern Italy that the notary's office became very important. The term "notarius" was ambiguous in the Middle Ages. It could refer to an ordinary clerk, possibly in a higher position to the head of a princely or count's chancellery or a town clerk.
Today, the Canton of Bern has a free notary's office, although the historical basis for the current concept of the notarial profession in the Canton of Bern can be found in the liberalism of the first half of the 19th century: In 1832, i.e. shortly after the Regeneration Constitution of 1831 came into force, which introduced popular sovereignty and various fundamental rights, the Grand Council passed a law that removed the notarization of land purchase contracts from the competence of the clerks and transferred it to the competence of independent notaries.

 

• the notarization of land transactions, in particular a purchase agreement or the creation of mortgages
• the establishment of condominium ownership
• the notarization of marriage contracts
• Notarization of wills and inheritance contracts
• Notarization of tax, inheritance and public inventories
• The notarization of certifications and affidavits
• The formation of public limited companies and limited liability companies
• The establishment of foundations
• public deeds in connection with changes to companies, namely mergers, demergers, conversions and the transfer of assets

Professional duties

Lawyers have various professional obligations in relation to their clients. The most important professional duties of lawyers include the duty of loyalty and the duty of confidentiality. These are sometimes referred to as the core of a lawyer's professional duties per se.

The lawyer, who generally works under Swiss contract law (Art. 394 ff. CO), is also obliged to provide the service personally and to carry out his profession carefully and conscientiously (see Art. 12 lit. a of the Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers (in short: Lawyers Act, SR 935.61)).

The object of a lawyer's professional activity is the promotion of the interests of other persons, whereby the aim is to achieve advantages or avert disadvantages for another person. Protecting the interests of others is therefore characteristic of the legal profession. This safeguarding of interests is differentiated from the lawyer's own interests, whereby today the occurrence of any conflicts of interest is regulated by law (see Art. 12 lit. c of the aforementioned Lawyers Act).

 

Application cases

The following use cases can be given as examples:

1. Heidi Tunichtgut is a member of a community of heirs with five heirs. Her mother's assets are to be distributed and various advance withdrawals have been made. Heidi Tunichtgut instructs a lawyer to conclude an amicable division of the estate (which can be done in writing) in a first phase, and if this is not successful, to bring an action for distribution of the estate on her behalf in a second phase. The lawyer's aim here is to achieve the best possible result with reasonable effort.

2. Viktor Streit wants to divorce and has two children from the marriage. The lawyer instructed has the following items to settle:

 

-         Settlement of the pension fund entitlements, in accordance with Art. 122 - 124 ZGB

-         any post-marital maintenance claims between the spouses (Art. 125 et seq. ZGB),

-         the regulation of the possibilities of modification,

-         costs and compensation issues.

  Who receives parental custody of the children, and what visiting rights and obligations exist,

-         maintenance claims of the children,

-         Settlement of all assets of the spouses, in particular with regard to real estate, securities, movables, as well as claims from the 3rd pillar,

In a first step, Viktor Streit would like to achieve a solution that is as amicable as possible, but good for him; should this fail due to the ideas of the other party, Viktor Streit is also prepared to file a contested divorce action because the separation took place two years ago.

3. in a building with condominium ownership, a comprehensive renovation is to be undertaken. On this occasion, a refurbishment is decided that goes far beyond what is necessary. Mr. Ferdinand Knapp, who has few financial resources, opposes the luxurious refurbishment and instructs a lawyer to challenge the condominium owners' resolution.

4 Max Gutmütig has given a loan to his friend Felix Rosenbaum, but Rosenbaum does not repay it. Max Gutmütig instructs a lawyer to initiate debt collection proceedings and to remove any counter-objections.

5 Eva Krampf runs a restaurant business and has entrusted the carpenter Ungenau with furnishing the premises of her restaurant according to her specifications. Carpenter Ungenau does everything that Eva Krampf did not want, but not what she wanted. Eva Krampf instructs a lawyer to clarify the legal situation and, if necessary, to take legal action.

 

 

Services

-        Transfer of real estate

-        Purchase agreements

-         Assignments on account of future inheritance

-        Gifts

-         Transfer of agricultural homesteads and land

-         Parceling, establishment of easements, building lease agreements

-         establishment of condominium ownership and condominium owner regulations

-         Establishment of mortgage notes

-        Marriage contracts

-         Inheritance contracts and wills

-         Establishment of companies (AG, GmbH, cooperative, associations, foundations)

-         Changes to articles of association and transfer of registered office of companies

-         Mergers, demergers, conversions, asset transfers

-         Shareholder agreements