--- title: "Notary identity verification in Québec | NotarIA" description: "Two documents, one with a photo, proof kept in the file, remote cases: what section 43 and regulation N-3, r. 17 require of a notary. Texts cited." url: "https://notaria.solutions/en/guides/notary-identity-verification-quebec" locale: "en-CA" type: "guide" section: "Practical guide" published: "2026-08-21" updated: "2026-08-21" author: "ATOM Solutions" reading_time: "9 min read" fidelity: "exact" generator: "notaria-markdown/1" --- # Identity verification by a Québec notary: what the law actually requires. In Québec, a notary must verify the identity, quality and capacity of each party to a notarial act to be signed before them — that is section 43 of the Notaries Act (CQLR c. N-3). In practice, verification is done with two documents from a reliable and independent source, one of which must bear a photograph for a natural person, and the notary must keep proof of that verification in the file (Règlement sur la tenue des dossiers et des études des notaires, CQLR c. N-3, r. 17, ss. 5 and 6). The obligation is not limited to receiving an act: it also covers receiving, paying out or transferring funds. ## What section 43 actually says The provision is short, and its wording matters: « A notary shall, by all reasonable means, verify the identity, quality and capacity of each party to a notarial act to be signed before the notary. » - **Identity** — Whether you are that person. It is the only one of the three the regulation puts a number on, with its two-document rule. - **Quality** — The title in which the party intervenes: owner, director, liquidator, mandatary, shareholder. Someone can be perfectly identified and still intervene without the required quality. - **Capacity** — The ability to consent. Where there is doubt, the Chambre indicates the notary may require additional evidence, such as a medical assessment. - **All reasonable means** — Quality and capacity are not tariffed by the regulation. They rest on professional judgment — which is far easier to defend when it is written in the file. Since the 2023 reform, section 43 has a second paragraph: where one of the parties signs before a notary other than the officiating notary, under the seventh paragraph of section 46, it is that other notary who must verify the identity, quality and capacity of that party. The obligation follows the signature, not the file. This guide is informative and does not constitute legal advice. The provisions cited link through to LégisQuébec: check them at the source. For the exact scope of your obligations, refer to the Chambre des notaires du Québec. ## How many documents, and which ones? Section 6 of the regulation is the most consulted provision, and the simplest: verification is done with two documents from a reliable and independent source, one of which must bear a photograph for a natural person. | Type of client | What section 6 requires | Examples listed in the regulation | | --- | --- | --- | | Natural person | 2 documents, 1 bearing a photograph | Driver's licence, birth certificate, health insurance card, passport | | Entity (legal person, partnership, cooperative, association) | 2 documents from a reliable and independent source | Certificate of incorporation or registration, most recent annual report, articles of incorporation or amalgamation, letters patent, partnership or association agreement | The operative word is « notamment » — notably: the regulation's list illustrates, it does not limit. An equivalent document from a reliable and independent source may serve, but the notary carries the burden of showing the choice was reasonable. For a legal person or partnership, section 7 adds a separate and often forgotten duty: take reasonable steps to obtain and record in the file the name and occupation of the directors, plus the name, address and occupation of anyone holding at least 25% of the shares or units. Where those details stay out of reach, the regulation requires recording the steps taken to try to obtain them. ## When is the obligation triggered? Section 5 covers two situations, and the second still catches offices out. - **Receiving a notarial act** — The obvious case. Verification must come before signature, not be tidied up afterwards. - **Movements of funds** — Receiving, paying out or transferring funds — or simply giving instructions to that effect. A file with no notarial act can therefore trigger the obligation in full. - **The section 3 exclusions** — Sections 4 through 9 do not apply where the client is a financial institution, a public body or a reporting issuer. The regulation defines all three itself, and its definition of public body is broader than intuition suggests. Section 5 is equally explicit about the trace to leave behind: the notary must keep proof of the verification of identity in the record. The regulation does not prescribe its form — copies of the documents, notes recording what was seen and its numbers, a signed identification sheet. What matters is being able to produce it to the Chambre des notaires on request. The Chambre further notes that verification is personal to the notary: it cannot be delegated to a collaborator, and it means examining the documents in the client's presence to rule out anything questionable, such as an expired document or inconsistent entries. ## What if the person isn't in front of you? This is where the most commonly missed nuance sits. Sections 8 and 9 do provide mechanisms for an absent person — but both open with the same words: « Except in cases involving the receipt of a notarial act ». - **Elsewhere in Canada (s. 8)** — An attestation from a commissioner for oaths or from a guarantor practising one of eighteen listed occupations — notary, lawyer, physician, engineer, chartered professional accountant, peace officer, school principal, pharmacist among them — together with a certified true copy of the document seen. The notary must confirm the guarantor is registered with a professional order or similar body. - **Outside Canada (s. 9)** — An agent, under a written agreement, tasked with obtaining the attestation and one of the documents referred to in section 6. - **The restriction that changes everything** — Both mechanisms are available for your other professional services. They do not replace verification when you are receiving a notarial act. ## Remote signing: where the law actually stands Section 46 states the principle first: a notarial act is closed by the signature of the parties « in the physical presence of the officiating notary ». The notary may exceptionally, where circumstances require it and it can be done with respect for the rights and interests of the parties, allow a party who requests it to sign the act remotely. They may also, where circumstances lend themselves to it, allow a witness to sign remotely. The authorization may be revoked at any time. The notary must then ensure conditions allow them to maintain the quality of their professional services, the parties' proper understanding, and the confidentiality of the information exchanged. Then comes the paragraph setting out where a remote act is closed and under what regulatory terms. In the official text, it carries the notation « Non en vigueur » — not in force. This is not an isolated case. As consolidated to 7 April 2026, the Notaries Act contains around twenty provisions that are enacted but not yet in force — including section 35.1 on receiving and keeping acts en minute on a technological medium. They await regulations from the Chambre's board of directors. A consolidated text displays them in their normal place, in article order: nothing sets them apart but that notation. Reading the section without reading the notation means believing you are bound by a regime that does not yet apply — or the reverse. The seventh paragraph of section 46 is in force: a party's signature may be given before a notary other than the officiating notary, in physical presence or remotely, provided the officiating notary receives the last signature. It may also be received by a notary authorized to practise in a State whose professional order belongs to the International Union of Notaries and is designated by the board of directors, within that State's territorial limits. The notary who receives the signature must then write and sign, immediately below it, an attestation that the signature was received before them and the date it was received. ## Two reading traps Neither is a subtle point of law. Both nonetheless produce false citations, including in answers generated by artificial intelligence assistants. - **Citing a repealed Act** — Québec's corpus holds two « Loi sur le notariat »: chapter N-2, repealed on 24 October 2023, and chapter N-3, in force. Both remain online at the Official Publisher and search engines regularly surface the first. The date banner at the head of the document settles it in a second. - **Confusing the professional and federal regimes** — The obligations described here come from Québec legislation and the Chambre's regulation, not from the federal anti-money-laundering regime. They are two distinct bodies of rules, and it is the professional regulation that sets the two-document rule. - [Notaries Act, CQLR c. N-3 — Québec Official Publisher](https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/document/lc/N-3) - [Règlement sur la tenue des dossiers et des études des notaires, N-3, r. 17 (French only)](https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/N-3,%20r.%2017) ## Defined terms ### Officiating notary The notary who receives the act and closes it with their signature. Where a party signs before another notary, that other notary verifies the party's identity, quality and capacity, but the officiating notary receives the last signature. ### Quality The title in which a person intervenes in an act: owner, director, liquidator, mandatary, shareholder. Distinct from identity, it is one of the three verifications required by section 43 of the Notaries Act. ### Reliable and independent source The qualification required of the two documents used to verify identity (N-3, r. 17, s. 6). The regulation gives examples — driver's licence, birth certificate, health insurance card, passport — without making the list exhaustive. ### Provision not in force Text enacted by the legislature but whose application is deferred, often until a regulation is adopted. The consolidated version displays it in its normal place in article order, preceded only by the notation « Non en vigueur ». ## Frequently asked questions ### How many pieces of ID must a notary require in Québec? Two documents from a reliable and independent source. For a natural person, one of the two must bear a photograph. That is section 6 of the Règlement sur la tenue des dossiers et des études des notaires (CQLR c. N-3, r. 17), made under the Notaries Act. ### Which pieces of ID does a Québec notary accept? The regulation cites a driver's licence, a birth certificate, a health insurance card and a passport. The list is introduced by « notamment » — notably: it illustrates without limiting. Another document from a reliable and independent source may serve, with the notary able to justify that the choice was reasonable. ### Must the notary keep proof of the identity verification? Yes. Section 5 of the regulation requires proof of the verification of identity to be kept in the record. The form is not prescribed: copies of the documents, notes recording what was seen, or an identification sheet. The notary must be able to produce it to the Chambre des notaires du Québec on request. ### Can a notary verify identity remotely? For someone absent elsewhere in Canada, section 8 provides for an attestation from a commissioner for oaths or a guarantor, with a certified true copy. For someone abroad, section 9 provides for an agent under written agreement. But both sections expressly exclude cases involving the receipt of a notarial act. ### Can an employee of the office carry out the verification? No. The Chambre des notaires states that verification is personal to the notary and cannot be delegated to a collaborator. It requires examining the documents in the client's presence to rule out any anomaly, such as an expired document or inconsistent entries. ### Which law governs identity verification by a notary in Québec? The Notaries Act, CQLR c. N-3, section 43, and the Règlement sur la tenue des dossiers et des études des notaires, CQLR c. N-3, r. 17, sections 3 to 10. Note that chapter N-2, which carries the same title, was repealed on 24 October 2023 and nonetheless remains accessible online. ### Is there anything to verify beyond identity? Yes. Section 43 covers identity, quality and capacity. Quality is the title in which the party intervenes — owner, director, liquidator, mandatary; capacity is their ability to consent. The regulation puts a number only on identity: the other two fall under all reasonable means, meaning judgment best documented in the file. ## Check which version of the text applies, without hunting for it. Request a demonstration: bring a real act and watch the tool cite every provision to its source, with its coming-into-force date. The notary validates, signs and decides. ## Steps 1. **Determine whether the obligation applies** — It is triggered by the receipt of a notarial act, or by receiving, paying out or transferring funds, or giving instructions to that effect (N-3, r. 17, s. 5). Section 3 sets aside financial institutions, public bodies and reporting issuers, each defined by the regulation itself. 2. **Obtain two documents from a reliable and independent source** — For a natural person, one of the two must bear a photograph. Driver's licence, birth certificate, health insurance card and passport are the regulation's examples; the list is introduced by « notamment » and is therefore illustrative, not exhaustive. 3. **Examine the documents personally** — The Chambre states that verification cannot be delegated to a collaborator. It means examining the documents in the client's presence and ruling out anything questionable: an expired date, inconsistent entries, alterations. 4. **Verify quality and capacity too** — Section 43 covers three things, not one. Quality is the title in which the party intervenes; capacity is their ability to consent. The regulation puts no number on either: they fall under « all reasonable means », meaning judgment that has to be documented. 5. **Complete the picture for an entity** — For a legal person or partnership, section 7 requires reasonable steps to record the directors and anyone holding at least 25% of the shares or units. Failing that, the steps taken must be recorded in the file. 6. **Keep proof in the file** — Section 5 requires proof of the verification to be kept in the record, without prescribing its form: copies of the documents, notes recording what was seen, or an identification sheet. It must be producible to the Chambre des notaires on request. ## See also - [Professional liability: the checks before signature](https://notaria.solutions/en/guides/notary-professional-liability) - [Law 25: what becomes of copies of identity documents](https://notaria.solutions/en/guides/law-25-notary-practices) - [The notarial compliance copilot](https://notaria.solutions/en/features/compliance-copilot) - [Our methodology and its limits](https://notaria.solutions/en/methodology) --- Assistant — not legal advice. The notary reviews, signs and decides on every act.