Served 123 LLC prepares your documents for use abroad — apostilles for Hague Convention countries and full embassy legalization for the rest — routing each document to the right state or federal authority. Below are the questions clients ask most, with answers on the difference between apostille and legalization, timing, and fees.
Request a free, no-obligation quote by email or phone. Tell us the document and destination country and we'll confirm the correct path and timing.
Public and private documents, routed to the right authority.
An apostille is a certificate that authenticates the origin of a public document — verifying the signature, the capacity of the official who signed, and any seal or stamp — so the document is recognized in another country that is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention. It's attached to the document by the designated authority and does not certify the content of the document itself.
It comes down to the destination country:
We determine which path your document needs based on the destination country before any work begins.
It depends entirely on the destination country. If the country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, you need an apostille. If it isn't, you need authentication followed by embassy or consular legalization. Tell us the destination country at intake and we confirm the correct path — getting this right up front avoids a rejected document and a repeat trip through the process.
The Hague Apostille Convention is an international treaty that simplifies the recognition of public documents among member countries. Instead of a multi-step legalization chain, a single apostille issued by a designated authority makes the document valid in any other member country — which is why the apostille path is faster than embassy legalization.
Common documents include:
Private documents typically must be notarized first, while vital records require a certified copy from the issuing office.
It depends on where the document originates:
We route each document to the correct authority so it isn't rejected for being submitted to the wrong office.
Many private documents — powers of attorney, affidavits, authorization letters — must be notarized before they can be apostilled, because the apostille authenticates the notary's signature and commission. Vital records and court records are not notarized; instead they require a certified copy from the issuing office. We confirm the correct preparation for each document at intake.
Yes. FBI background checks and other federal documents are apostilled by the U.S. Department of State rather than a state authority. We coordinate the federal process, including obtaining the FBI identity history summary through an approved channeler where needed, and route the document for its federal apostille.
Four stages:
We then return the completed document to you.
Timing varies by issuing authority. State Secretary of State apostilles typically take from a few days to a few weeks depending on the state and whether expedited service is offered. Federal apostilles through the U.S. Department of State generally take longer. Embassy or consular legalization for non-Hague countries adds additional time. Specific timing for your document is included in your quote.
Yes, where the issuing authority offers expedited processing. Many state offices provide an expedited tier, and we can hand-carry or prioritize submissions where that's available. Rush handling is disclosed in your quote before work begins — note that federal and embassy timelines are set by the government and can't always be accelerated.
Yes. For countries that are not members of the Hague Apostille Convention, we handle the full authentication and legalization chain — notarization where required, state or federal certification, U.S. Department of State authentication, and final legalization at the destination country's embassy or consulate.
An apostille is quoted as a service fee based on the issuing authority, the number of documents, and whether notarization, certified copies, or embassy legalization are required, plus government issuing fees passed through at cost. All foreseeable charges are disclosed in a written quote in the form of a no-obligation invoice before any work begins.
Yes. When you have documents issued in different states, each is routed to its own state's Secretary of State, and federal documents go to the U.S. Department of State. We coordinate the parallel submissions under one matter with consolidated reporting and a single point of contact.
Provide:
If the document still needs to be notarized or a certified copy obtained, tell us and we handle that step. We confirm the correct preparation before submitting to the issuing authority.
Many apostilles require the original document or a certified copy, because the authority authenticates an original signature or seal. We advise on what each document and authority requires, handle originals securely with tracked custody, and return the completed documents to you by your preferred method.
Three options:
We reply with a written quote in the form of a no-obligation invoice; work begins once you approve and pay it.
Yes. For private documents that must be notarized before they can be apostilled, our mobile notary can notarize the document and we then route it for its apostille — one coordinated workflow from signature to internationally ready document.
Yes. We can retrieve a certified or exemplified copy of a court record and then obtain its apostille, so a record needed abroad is pulled, certified, and authenticated in a single coordinated process.
The right path, the right authority, the first time — documents ready for use anywhere in the world.
