Notarial Organization and the Status of the Notary and Assistant Notary
The institutional frame
Understand the Notary and Notarial Activity Act as the core statute, together with the Chamber of Notaries as the self-governing body with mandatory membership, its regional councils, and the disciplinary bodies. Know the appointing authority, the territorial district in which a notary may act, and the rule that a notarial act performed outside the notary's district is generally invalid unless the law expressly allows otherwise.
Status and incompatibilities
Candidates must master the requirements for appointment (Bulgarian citizenship, legal capacity, higher legal education, internship, examination), the incompatibilities (public office, employment, commercial activity, advocacy), and the grounds for suspension and termination. Distinguish the notary's public-law function from private practice: the notary is a person exercising a public function but is not a state official.
The assistant notary
Know the assistant notary's conditions of appointment, the substitute-notary role, and the precise limits of competence: the assistant may perform acts when lawfully substituting, but cannot perform acts reserved to the notary personally, such as certain certification of wills or acts expressly listed by statute. Also know the notary's duty of impartiality, confidentiality, and the obligation to refuse an act that is unlawful or whose parties lack capacity.
Traps and a rule of thumb
Typical traps: confusing the Chamber with the Ministry of Justice; assuming an assistant notary's powers are unlimited; confusing suspension with termination; and mixing territorial competence with the seat of the notary's office. Rule of thumb: when a question asks "who may do this act", first ask whether the act is a notarial act at all, then whether the performer is a notary, a lawfully substituting assistant, or an expressly authorized official (consul, mayor in defined cases).