The notary explained the rules of notarization of correspondence for the court

Messenger correspondence and e-mail are increasingly becoming key evidence in court disputes, including real estate. Yaroslav Gafurov, a notary of the city of Moscow, an expert in working with corporate lawyers and investors, told Izvestia on March 27 what requirements apply to such materials and why it is important to certify them on time.

According to the expert, Russian procedural legislation allows the use of electronic correspondence in court, as it helps to establish the content of agreements and participants in communication. However, in order to recognize such materials as evidence, it is important to confirm the source of the information, the method of obtaining it, and the immutability of the content.

"This can be done only through a notarial protocol. As a rule, courts do not accept screenshots and printouts without it," said Gafurov.

He stressed that the timeliness of contacting a notary is of key importance. If the correspondence has already been deleted or changed, it becomes legally impossible to fix it. In addition, in order to draw up a protocol, it is necessary to provide the dialogue in full so that the context is clear. Fragmentary messages will have no evidentiary value.

The expert also recommends that business correspondence be as identifiable as possible, indicating the names, contacts, and other details of the parties. This is especially important when discussing real estate transactions: the essential conditions should be recorded in the messages, including the object, price, timing and payment procedure.

According to Gafurov, before the notarization, the notary examines the correspondence directly from the device or through access to the account, records the page addresses, phone numbers, date and time of the messages, and then draws up a protocol for examining the evidence. It is this procedure that gives the correspondence its legal significance.

"Lawyers and participants in transactions who are preparing for possible disputes most often apply for recording correspondence. The number of such requests is growing against the background of an increase in the number of conflicts over the terms of transactions and the active transition of agreements to the digital environment. In some cases, notarization helps not only in court, but also prevents conflict by disciplining the parties," concluded the notary.

The objective of justice: how will the law on video recording of notarial actions help Russians?

Deputies propose to make it mandatory to record real estate transactions

On March 23, an expert of the NIFI project of the Ministry of Finance of Russia "My Finances.Russian Federation" Olga Daineko spoke about the nuances of inheriting securities under a will and the law. According to her, if relatives are unaware of the presence of such assets in the deceased, the notary independently sends requests to depositories, registrars and the Federal Tax Service (FTS). After receiving the information, the accounting organization suspends operations on the account until the heirs take over.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.