Thailand has no notary public: what a Notarial Services Attorney certifies, and how to legalize a Thai document for use abroad

Selling a share in a Thai property-holding company to a family member abroad, sending a Thai marriage or death certificate to a foreign bank or court, or having an overseas lawyer accept a certified copy of a Koh Phangan title deed — every one of these needs a Thai-issued document recognised outside Thailand. Thailand has no notary-public profession in the sense familiar to buyers from common-law or most civil-law countries. Instead, a defined process built on the Lawyers Council of Thailand's own licensed attorneys and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of Consular Affairs does the job — the mirror image of the Power of Attorney legalisation guide already on this site, which covers a POA signed abroad for use in Thailand. This guide covers the opposite direction: a document created in Thailand that needs to work overseas.

Who can actually certify a Thai document

Thailand has no independent notary-public profession. Only a Thai lawyer who has completed the Lawyers Council of Thailand's specific training and registered as a Notarial Services Attorney (ทนายความผู้ทำคำรับรองลายมือชื่อและเอกสาร) — under Lawyers Council Regulations B.E. 2566 (2023) and B.E. 2567 (2024), most recently amended in March 2026 (B.E. 2569) to add electronic certification — may perform this function. An ordinary Thai lawyer without that specific registration cannot.

• Certify true copies of documents.
• Witness signatures on contracts, powers of attorney and agreements.
• Administer oaths and take affidavits or statutory declarations.
• Verify identity and certify a juristic person's status.
• Certify a translation done by a qualified translator.
• Draw up formal protests.

The March 2026 amendment also introduced an E-Notary option — a Notarial Services Attorney can complete the certification over video call, verifying the signatory's passport and confirming they understand the document, rather than requiring an in-person visit.

The three-step outbound process

• Notarial Services Attorney certification — a signature is witnessed, or a copy is verified against the original, by a registered Notarial Services Attorney.
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs legalisation — the ministry's Legalization Division (Department of Consular Affairs, Chaeng Watthana Road, Bangkok) applies its own stamp certifying the authenticity of the attorney's signature and seal, not the underlying content of the document. Fees run around 200 THB for regular service (roughly two to three weeks) or 400 THB same-day, plus about 200 THB per document if a translation needs verifying.
• The receiving country's embassy or consulate in Thailand — until Thailand's own accession to the Hague Apostille Convention takes effect on 28 February 2027 (already covered in the apostille guide), most countries also require their own embassy in Bangkok to add a final authentication stamp before the document is accepted at home.

What changes once Thailand's apostille accession takes effect

From 28 February 2027, a single apostille certificate issued by Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs will replace the third step above for documents headed to any of the roughly 120-plus other Apostille Convention member states — cutting the destination embassy's own sign-off, not the Notarial Services Attorney certification step itself. The attorney's certification of the underlying document remains a precondition either way.

Where this comes up for a Koh Phangan owner

• Selling a share in a family's Thai holding company to a relative abroad who needs a certified Power of Attorney.
• A foreign heir abroad needing a certified copy of a Thai death certificate, marriage certificate, or Land Office document for their own country's probate court — see the estate-administrator guide.
• An overseas bank or mortgage lender wanting a certified copy of a Thai title deed or company registration before releasing financing.
• A foreign court proceeding, such as a divorce dividing marital property, that needs a certified Thai document as evidence — see the foreign divorce-judgment guide.

None of this substitutes for legal advice on which specific documents a foreign counterpart actually requires — countries differ on whether they'll accept a Thai Notarial Services Attorney's certification, an MFA-legalised copy, or, after 2027, an apostille outright. But knowing which of the three steps above is missing is usually what explains why an otherwise straightforward document exchange has stalled.