Legislation on the Notariat: Status, Rights, Duties, and Liability of Notaries
What this domain tests
The exam tests the legal status of notaries in Kazakhstan, the difference between state and private notaries, the requirements for appointment, the scope of rights and duties, and the forms of liability.
Core rules
- The Law on Notariat establishes a unified institution in which state and private notaries perform notarial acts. A private notary is not a state employee but exercises public functions under a licence.
- Appointment requires citizenship, higher legal education, internship, qualification examination, and a licence; a private notary also joins the Notarial Chamber and insures civil liability.
- Rights include performing notarial acts, requesting documents and information, collecting lawful fees, and making technical corrections. Duties include legality, identification, explanation of consequences, notarial secrecy, registerkeeping, and compliance with ethics.
- Liability may be civil (compensation for damage), disciplinary (chamber), administrative, or criminal. Private notaries must maintain compulsory insurance; state notaries are covered through the state.
- A notary may not perform an act in one’s own interest, for close relatives, or where independence is compromised.
Worked example
A private notary certifies a will without a proper capacity check and later a relative claims the testator was disoriented. The notary’s defence is not “the testator seemed fine”; the file should show identity verification, explanation, and, where doubt arose, a refusal or a medical-capacity route. The chamber may open disciplinary proceedings, and civil damages may follow if fault and loss are proven.
Traps
Thinking a private notary is a public servant for every purpose; forgetting insurance and chamber membership; treating the qualification exam as the only requirement; confusing disciplinary liability with civil damages; acting for relatives without checking the conflict rule.