Notaries –
Arbitration

Whether it's a divorce agreement, inheritance dispute, or notarial mediation under the Property Rights Settlement Act: involving a notary not only helps to avoid future disputes, but also to resolve disputes that have already arisen.

As holders of public office, we notaries are active in the entire field of preventive legal administration. Through our supervisory and advisory function, we help in many ways to avoid disputes from the outset or to settle disputes that have already arisen by means of an amicable solution. But even where no agreement can be reached, we notaries can settle disputes as arbitrators thanks to our independent and impartial position and our expertise. Involving a notary thus avoids lengthy and costly disputes in court.

When contracts are concluded, disputes between the various parties to a contract often do not arise in the first place because notaries are involved from the outset as professional advisors – in the consultation, the drafting of contracts, the actual conclusion of the contract (notarization), and the execution (implementation). In all these phases, we notaries, unlike lawyers, are committed to the interests of both parties.

Due to our legal position as independent and impartial advisors to the parties involved, we ensure that the interests of all contracting parties are fairly balanced. The legal obligations to provide information, review, and instruct, as well as the formalities prescribed by the Notarization Act, help to ensure that open questions and problems are clarified in advance and in connection with the conclusion of the contract. The notarial deed is formulated clearly, unambiguously, and without any open points. As a public document, it provides full proof of the notarized transaction, and as an enforcement title, it saves the need to go to court.

Four advantages of notarial mediation stand out in particular:

• Mediation is more than a court proceeding: the parties themselves determine the outcome. There are no winners or losers.

• The initiation of arbitration proceedings interrupts the statute of limitations – this means more time for negotiations.

• The arbitration agreement can be enforced immediately – just like a court ruling.

• Settlements before an independent body such as a notary are usually faster, less bureaucratic, and cheaper than a court ruling.

• State law may require that, in certain disputes, an attempt at settlement must have been made before a notary or other conciliation body before a lawsuit can be filed in a local court. Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia were the first to make use of this option.

However, arbitration proceedings, known as mediation, can also be conducted at any time in all other disputes. The notary helps impartially to find a solution that is acceptable to both sides. If the parties so wish, he or she formulates the agreement in a legally unambiguous manner and takes care of its practical implementation. This ensures the success of the arbitration in both legal and economic terms.

In order to provide the mediating notary and the parties to the mediation with guidelines for the formal conduct of a mediation procedure, the Federal Chamber of Notaries has adopted a conciliation code.