An Estonian notary is not a lawyer you hire and not an official you can appeal to. There are 87 of them across 15 notarial districts, appointed for life, and the Chamber of Notaries — at Tatari 25 in Tallinn, which publishes the list of every office — describes it as neither civil service nor business but an independent profession exercising a function the state handed over.
That matters for one practical reason. The notary is impartial between the parties, by law: in a property sale they are not the seller's representative and not yours, and the duty is to explain to both sides what follows from the transaction and how each can protect their own interests. Nobody in the room is on your side, and if you want someone who is, that is a separate person you engage separately.
The fee is fixed by statute. The Notary Fees Act sets it, every office charges the same, and a notary is forbidden from agreeing a different figure — so there is nothing to negotiate. Almost every act can now be done over a video bridge without entering the country, including by an e-resident who has never set foot in Estonia.
Table of Contents
What a Notary Does
A notarial act is a state-backed record that a particular document was signed by particular people who understood what they were signing. The notary verifies identity, reads the instrument back, explains the consequences and certifies, and the resulting deed carries evidential weight a private contract does not.
One line decides what is negotiable. A notarial act — certifying a transaction, attesting a signature, issuing an apostille — is priced by the Notary Fees Act and is not open to discussion. A notarial service, such as drafting a document the notary is not certifying or advising outside an act, is off the statutory scale: that fee is agreed with you, and must be agreed before the work starts. The duty to explain is the part foreign clients underuse — an appointment where you hear something for the first time was booked too early, so ask for the draft in advance.
When a Notary Is Compulsory
Estonia digitised almost everything, then kept the notary for transactions where getting it wrong is expensive and irreversible. An agreement in the wrong form is void, not merely unenforceable.
| Transaction | Notary needed? | What actually has to be certified |
|---|---|---|
| Buying or selling property | Yes | Both the purchase-sale contract and the real right contract that transfers ownership |
| Mortgage over property | Yes | The mortgage in the lender's favour, usually at the same appointment |
| Transferring a share in an OÜ | Usually | The disposition itself, unless one of two narrow exemptions applies |
| Shareholder or option agreement | No | Purely obligation-creating arrangements were freed from the notarial form |
| Marital property contract | Yes | The choice of property regime, before or during the marriage |
| Will | Optional | A notarial will, or a spouses' reciprocal will; a home-made will is valid but weaker |
| Inheritance | Yes | Succession proceedings and the certificate of succession |
| Power of attorney for a notarial act | Yes | A power to sell property or transfer a share must itself be notarised |
| Divorce by agreement | Alternative | A notary is one of the two routes — see divorce |
The share transfer catches foreign owners most often, because the exemption is real but narrow. The notarial form falls away in exactly two situations: the shares are registered in the Estonian securities register, or the articles of association expressly permit transfer without a notary. The second route's conditions are cumulative — at least €10,000 of paid-in share capital, the provision written into the articles, and every shareholder's consent.
Most e-resident companies do not qualify for the share-transfer exemption
Since minimum share capital was abolished, a great many companies are formed with a nominal amount and never increase it. A company below €10,000 of paid-in capital cannot use the articles-of-association route however its articles are worded, and the securities-register route needs a securities account a foreign-owned company without Estonian banking ties may not be able to open. So for most owners a share sale goes to a notary — which, since it can be done remotely, is less of an obstacle than it sounds.
Since 2020 the obligation-creating half of a share deal — the shareholders' agreement, the option, the promise to sell — no longer needs notarising. The disposition that actually moves the share still does.
How the Fee Is Worked Out
The Notary Fees Act works on transaction value. Each value maps to a full fee, the scale is degressive so the percentage falls as the value rises, and four modifiers sit on top.
Find the transaction value
Normally the price the parties declare. Setting or discharging a mortgage is valued at 2/3 of the mortgage sum rather than the whole of it, and forming a company is valued on the planned share capital.Apply the statutory minimum, if the value is below it
A cheap asset is priced as if it were worth more: €6,391 for a plot or a building, €1,278 for an ideal share of one, €3,800 for a separately privatised apartment, and €6,391 for marital property.Apply the ceiling, if the value is above it
Every act is capped at a transaction value of €6,390,000. Above that the scale simply stops, so a very large deal costs the same in notary fees as one at the ceiling.Double it if the contract is bilateral, then add VAT
A purchase-sale has two sides, so the fee is 2 × the full fee. VAT at 24% is charged on top of the fee tables that are quoted net.
The Chamber's own worked example shows all four at once. On a purchase-sale contract stating €50,000, the statutory table gives a full fee of €83.70; because a purchase-sale is bilateral the fee is 2 × €83.70 = €167.40, with VAT added.
Who pays is a matter for the contract, not the statute. Estonian practice splits the notary fee between buyer and seller, but nothing compels it — agree the split when you agree the price. Two costs sit beside it and are often mistaken for part of it: the state fee for the land register entry, a separate scale in the State Fees Act, and the remote-authentication supplement below. Buying property sets out the full cost stack.
The Fixed Fees
The acts a private person needs most often carry a flat fee, published by the Chamber VAT-inclusive.
| Act | Fee, including VAT |
|---|---|
| Attesting a signature or a specimen signature | €15.81 |
| Power of attorney, given by an individual | €31.62 |
| Power of attorney, given by a company | €61.01 |
| Power to collect a pension or maintenance | €3.96 |
| Notarial will | €40.36 |
| Spouses' reciprocal will | €51.46 |
| Opening succession proceedings | €79.24 |
| Issuing the certificate of succession | €126.79 |
| Apostille | €27.71 |
| Certified copy | €3.96 a page, capped at €39.62 |
Two repay a second look. A power of attorney is cheap and solves the problem of not being in the country. And attesting a signature is a different product from certifying a transaction: it says only that this person signed, and nothing about whether the document does what they think.
The divorce route through a notary is priced separately, at roughly €80 including VAT for the application, counselling and entry, and about €55 where the divorce does not go ahead. Divorce compares it with the vital statistics office and the court.
Remote Notarisation Over the Video Bridge
This is the change that matters most to anyone reading from abroad, and the reason an Estonian company can be bought and sold by people who have never met.
Remote authentication runs through the notaries' self-service portal: a video bridge opens between notary and parties, a photograph of each participant is matched against their identity document, the notary displays the deed and reads it back, and the parties sign inside the portal.
Every notarial act can be done this way except contracting and dissolving a marriage. Everything else — a property sale, a share transfer, a power of attorney, a will, succession proceedings — is available over the bridge.
Signing is by Estonian ID card, digital ID, Mobile-ID, Smart-ID, a residence permit card, or an e-Resident's digital ID. That last is the point: an e-resident with no Estonian address, bank or travel plans can complete an act that would otherwise require a flight. The supplement is €24 including VAT, on top of the transaction fee.
A notary is not obliged to offer remote authentication
It is a right of the profession rather than a duty of it, and offices differ in how readily they use it and in which languages they will run the appointment. Confirm both when you book — through the self-service portal or by contacting an office directly — rather than after the draft is prepared.
Working With a Notary Without Estonian
A notarial deed is drawn up in Estonian by default. The Notarisation Act lets the parties ask for another language, and the notary may use it where their own command of it is sufficient — in practice a Tallinn office will often work in English or Russian; a small county office may not.
The translation duty is not optional. If a participant does not have sufficient Estonian — whether they say so or the notary observes it — or the deed is in a foreign language, the deed must be translated to that participant, and where a participant demands it a written translation is prepared for them to examine before signing. Since 2020 a notary may certify neither a translation nor a translator's signature: that is a sworn translator's job — see translations and apostille.
What the notary must do is not a courtesy but a condition of the act:
- Draw the deed up in Estonian, or in another language at the parties' request where their own command of it suffices
- Translate the deed to any participant who does not have sufficient Estonian
- Prepare a written translation where a participant demands one
- Explain the legal consequences to every side, impartially
What falls to you is decided by the Language Act, not by the office:
- The cost of the interpreter — it falls on the participant who needed the translation
- Checking, before you book, which languages that office will actually work in
- Bringing your own adviser if you want someone whose duty is to you alone
- Reading the draft in advance, when there is still time to change it
That allocation is worth planning around: if one party needs an interpreter and the other does not, a foreign buyer facing an Estonian seller pays for the language on top of their half of the notary fee. It is not shared the way the notary fee usually is.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an Estonian notary cost?
Either on transaction value or by a flat fee, and either way the amount is set by the Notary Fees Act and identical at every office. On the Chamber's example, a purchase-sale contract stating €50,000 carries a full fee of €83.70, doubled to €167.40 because the contract is bilateral, plus VAT. Flat-fee acts are much smaller: €15.81 to attest a signature, €31.62 for an individual's power of attorney, €40.36 for a notarial will, all including VAT.
Can I do a notarial act in Estonia without going there?
Yes, for every act except contracting and dissolving a marriage. Remote authentication runs over a video bridge in the notaries' self-service portal, with a photograph of each participant matched to their identity document. Signing is by Estonian ID card, digital ID, Mobile-ID, Smart-ID, a residence permit card or an e-Resident's digital ID, and the supplement is €24 including VAT. No notary is obliged to offer the service, so confirm the office will before the draft is prepared.
Do I need a notary to sell my shares in an Estonian OÜ?
Usually yes, and both exemptions are narrow. Either the shares are registered in the Estonian securities register, which needs a securities account, or the articles of association expressly permit transfer without a notary — which requires at least €10,000 of paid-in share capital and every shareholder's consent. Most companies formed with nominal capital meet neither. Shareholders' agreements and options no longer need notarising; the disposition that moves the share still does.
What language will the notary work in?
Estonian by default. The parties may ask for another language and the notary may use it where their own command of it is sufficient, which in Tallinn commonly means English or Russian and in a small county office may mean neither. Where a participant does not have sufficient Estonian, or the deed is in a foreign language, it must be translated to them, and a written translation is prepared if a participant demands one.
Who pays for the interpreter?
The participant who needed the translation. That allocation comes from the Language Act rather than from the office, and it is not shared the way the notary fee usually is — so on a two-sided deal where only one party needs an interpreter, that party carries the whole cost on top of their share of the fee.
How much is an apostille in Estonia and who issues it?
Notaries issue apostilles, and have since 2010. The fee is €27.71 and it is issued within 5 working days of the application. It can go on the original document or on a certified copy, and both a paper and a digital apostille are available, the digital one verifiable online by whoever receives it.
Can a notary certify my translation?
No, not since 2020. Only a sworn translator may produce an official translation, and a notary may certify neither the accuracy of a translation nor a translator's signature. A translation certified abroad by a foreign notary, sworn translator or equivalent official is accepted in Estonia. Bringing an agency translation to a notary for a stamp is the commonest wasted appointment.
Do my foreign documents need an apostille to be used in Estonia?
Often, but not always. A public document from a Hague Convention country needs an apostille from that country; one from outside it needs legalisation instead. Several categories need neither: EU public documents proving births, deaths, marriages and divorces are exempt under the EU public documents regulation, multilingual standard forms remove the translation requirement too, and Estonia's legal-assistance treaties exempt documents from Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland or Ukraine.
Is the notary acting for me?
No. The notary is impartial between the parties by law, and the duty is to explain to both sides what consequences and risks follow and how each can protect their own interests. That is the design of the office, not a shortcoming of it. If you want someone whose duty runs to you alone, that is a separate adviser, separately engaged and paid.
How long do I have to renounce an inheritance?
3 months, running from when the successor learns or ought to learn of the death and of their own right to succeed — not from the date of death. Renunciation is irreversible. It matters because an Estonian inheritance carries the deceased's debts as well as their assets. Opening proceedings has no deadline at all: a presumed successor, a creditor of the deceased or anyone with good reason to establish who inherits may ask a notary to open them, and the notary then issues a certificate of succession naming each successor and their share as a fraction.
Can somebody else sign for me at the notary?
Yes, on a notarised power of attorney. A power to do something that itself requires a notary — selling property, transferring a share — must itself be in notarial form. It costs €31.62 including VAT from an individual and €61.01 from a company, and it can be granted remotely, which for an owner abroad is often faster than arranging the transaction itself remotely.
Are notary fees different in Tallinn and in a small town?
No. The Notary Fees Act fixes the fee for every notarial act and a notary may not alter the statutory rates, so the same act costs the same at any of the 87 offices across the 15 districts. Only a notarial service — drafting or advice outside a certified act — is negotiable, and that fee must be agreed before the work starts. Choose an office on language, availability and whether it will work remotely.