Independent. Confidential. Impartial.
NOTARIATE
Dr. Sylvia Freygner,LL.M., LL.M.
FREYGNER NOTARIAT provides services in accordance with the Notaries Act for domestic and foreign clients.
Dr. Sylvia Freygner LL.M. LL.M. has also been working as a lawyer since 2007. In Liechtenstein and Switzerland, she is mainly active as a lawyer in international tax law and criminal tax law and is also qualified as a lawyer in Austria (emeritus since 2022). As Vice President, she represents the Unterwalden Bar Association (Switzerland).
Her expertise lies in international tax and corporate law, commercial and financial criminal law as well as due diligence, capital markets and banking law. She advises on international matters, foundation and corporate law as well as on the tax structuring of assets and companies.
As a certified financial criminal law expert and international tax law expert, she represents clients in complex and challenging white-collar criminal proceedings and lectures on money laundering prevention at the University of Liechtenstein.
Education
Master’s course in International Tax Law at the University of Liechtenstein, Certified Expert in Criminal Tax Law at the Austrian Academy of Tax Consultants and Auditors, graduate of the Strategic Leadership Course of the Austrian Ministry of the Interior and Federal Chancellery, law studies at the University of Vienna, Austria, Dr. Iur. (PHD), training as a business mediator, ARGE Wirtschaftsmediation, Master’s course in European Competition Law and Certificate in European Studies at Danube University Krems, Austria, LL.M.
Publications
Numerous publications in public law, money laundering prevention and white-collar criminal law.
WITH CREATIVITY AND WILL
Notarial services
Liechtenstein notaries are holders of a public office to whom state authority is delegated to draw up public deeds.
They ensure the authenticity, probative value and safekeeping of these documents. They are required by law to be impartial and objective and enjoy public trust.
“Public” means that the notaries perform a public task when drawing up a deed.
NOTARIZATIONS & CERTIFICATIONS
Public notarizations & certifications
We take on essential tasks in the notarization of legal transactions under domestic law and the authentication of documents, whereby the identity and legal capacity of the persons involved and the conformity of the documents with the will of the parties must be ensured.
The Liechtenstein legislator has prescribed public notarization for the most important deeds in legal life, such as for the formation of legal entities (public limited company), for amendments to the articles of association of associations or deeds relating to land ownership.
Such public deeds can be drawn up by notaries.
Notaries may also notarize other legally relevant facts and legal relationships if there is an interest worthy of protection in their inclusion in a notarial deed and the notary is aware of their legal significance.
Liechtenstein notaries can also draw up so-called enforceable deeds, which have the same legal quality as a settlement drawn up in court.
Apart from drawing up public deeds, a Liechtenstein notary can carry out the following notarizations:
Notarizations
- Date certifications
- Certification of translations
- Notarization of signatures and hand signs
- Notarization of copies / transcripts / extracts
Public notarization under foreign law
Liechtenstein notaries can carry out public notarizations in accordance with foreign law so that foreign clients can also be accompanied and supported in the best possible way.
Issuance of documents
under foreign law:
Such a deed can be drawn up if the Liechtenstein notary understands the legal acts to be notarized, is in a position to explain them to the parties, has an overview of foreign law and is therefore able to review the legal transaction to be notarized with regard to its compatibility with foreign law.
affidavits
We accept affidavits, oaths and comparable forms of declaration. The same requirements apply here as for the issuing of documents under foreign law.
pretrial depositions
We take minutes of unsworn or sworn interrogations of witnesses for use or preparation of court custody abroad.
Costs
The costs for these services can be found in the document Fee Guidelines for Notaries.
Fee
The notary has the right to freely agree a fee. The fee shall be calculated according to the nature and scope of the efforts and the difficulty of the case.
The Chamber of Notaries has issued a fee guideline on the appropriate amount of the fee.
We would like to point out that notarization is not compulsory in Liechtenstein. Various services such as notarizations and public certifications are also offered very inexpensively by the Princely Court of Justice, the Office of Justice and the municipalities.
It is recommended that you compare the costs in advance.
NOTARIATE
KNOWLEDGE
The notary has a duty to instruct and examine the legal content and significance of the deed and the legal transaction to be notarized.
When drawing up notarial deeds, the notary must verify the identity of the persons involved and, if necessary, their powers of representation.
In the case of natural persons, this is usually done on the basis of official photo IDs. The identity of legal entities must be verified on the basis of certified extracts from the commercial register.
If such a check cannot dispel all doubts, the notary must refuse to notarize the deed. The notary must also check the legal capacity of the natural persons involved.
If there is any doubt in this regard, the notary may request medical proof that the persons involved are legally competent. If a doctor is consulted, the doctor’s statement must be kept for ten years. The notary is in a conflict of interest if he himself is involved in the legal transaction or is married or related to a party to the legal transaction.
De facto and registered partnerships are treated in the same way. Furthermore, a notary who has advised a party on a legal transaction that he is to notarize has a conflict of interest. When drafting the deed, the notary must ensure that the deed he has drawn up corresponds to the will of the contracting parties. The notary also has the authority to notarize legally relevant facts and legal relationships in the recording of which there is an interest worthy of protection.
The notary has a duty of verification in this respect. He must determine what exactly the interest and legal significance of this notarization is. It is also possible for the notary to draw up deeds in accordance with foreign law.
To do this, he must either be able to understand the intended legal acts and the foreign law himself, so that he can formulate the deed himself in the way specified by the parties.
In this case, the notary’s basic obligation to instruct the parties involved about the legal content and significance of the deed and, if necessary, to point out defects and contradictions does not apply.
It is also provided that affidavits can be made before the Liechtenstein notary. The person making the declaration must appear in person before the notary. Notaries may record sworn or unsworn examinations of witnesses (“pretrial depositions”) for use in or in preparation for foreign court proceedings.
Again, the formal requirements of foreign law must be observed. The Liechtenstein notary cannot use any means of coercion; witnesses to be heard must be informed that their cooperation can only be voluntary.
Finally, so-called enforceable deeds can also be drawn up before Liechtenstein notaries, which have the same legal quality as a settlement drawn up in court.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Brief overview of the Liechtenstein Notaries Act:
On January 1, 2020, the Notary Act came into force in Liechtenstein, which was passed by Parliament on October 3, 2019.
This has been in force since January 1, 2020 and regulates the preparation of notarial deeds and certifications in accordance with international formal requirements
Read more
This is against the background of the increasing internationalization of legal transactions and the need for documents drawn up in Germany and declarations of intent made in Germany to comply with foreign formal requirements.
Most European countries require certain declarations of intent, legal transactions and documents to be notarized or certified by a notary.
The Liechtenstein notary’s office is based on the basic idea of European lawyer-notaries.
The Notaries Act provides that notarizations can also be carried out in accordance with foreign law.
The Liechtenstein notary can draw up deeds in accordance with foreign law if he understands the legal acts to be notarized, is able to explain them to the parties, has an overview of foreign law and can therefore check the legal transaction to be notarized with regard to its compatibility with foreign law.
Furthermore, certifications and public notarizations can also be carried out at the Princely District Court, the Office of Justice and the municipalities. The introduction of the profession of notary does not result in the introduction of a notarial obligation.
It is up to you to have certifications or notarizations carried out by the district court or the Office of Justice or by a public notary.
“
BEST
HAS
IT
THE
NOTARY
“We saw the dark side of the legal professions as we glided past
.
And suddenly we all realized:
The notary has it best.
His nature, as the state created him,
partly an official, partly a freelancer,
away from controversy, but not from justice,
so he ensures that what is just,
is sealed and strictly proven.
If certainty in the law is praised
and ambiguity is reduced in advance,
a later dispute is prevented.
You’re also respected on all sides.
Yes, a notary, he has it nice.”
“We saw the downsides of the legal professions as they slipped by. And suddenly we all realized: the notary has it best.
His nature, as the state created him, part official, part freelancer, far from controversy, but not from justice, he ensures that what is just is sealed and strictly proven.
If certainty in the law is praised and ambiguity is reduced in advance, a later dispute is prevented.
You are also respected everywhere. Yes, a notary, he has it nice.”
HEINZ KREJCI,
EXCERPTS FROM “NOTARENLOB”
