Notaris(z)ation of US pension form in the UK

Hi all,

I'm in the UK and I've begun the paperwork (well, webpagework) to collect a pension that derives from employment in the US. The resultant form has to be signed by me and my wife, and requires notarisation.

The provider, Fidelity, says that notarisation outside the US has to be done by a US embassy/consulate, which is bad news because I live a fair way from London and we would both have to take a day off work. I'm trying to get a straight answer out of Fidelity as to whether they would allow online notarisation - which the US embassy recommends, since they have so few appointments.

In the meantime, I looked into online notarisation and it's not clear that it would work for us even if Fidelity allows it, because my wife has never lived or worked in the US. I have a SSN but she doesn't.

Does anyone have any experience with a similar situation?

Thanks in advance.

While living in the UK I had to have a document for Amex notarized and they allowed online notarization. I didn’t have the issue of no SS number.

I was in the exact same position when I wanted to start taking a distribution from a 401(k). Although not Fidelity, I was compelled to use a Notary Public, which as luck happened involved a lady that worked 1 day a week at my local lawyers office. She was well versed in U.S. document notarisation and knew what to do. It was accepted without any problems and the distribution started just fine.

Googling "notary public near <postcode>" should turn-up a few in your area.  Cost me about £80 last time. 

Thanks for all the replies, but Fidelity is categorical that it can't be a British notary. It's got to be either the US embassy in London or (and I'm not sure they'll agree to this yet) done online via an accredited US notary organisation, who will perform an identity search against US records. Hence my concern that they won't be able to authenticate my wife.

https://usvirtualnotary.com/service/international-notarization/

They say specifically the can work with someone overseas and also that they can do it without SSN. Now whether Fidelity will accept is another question!


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Many thanks for that link. They're three times more expensive than the others, and one wonders why they don't require a SSN like them, but I'll certainly look into them if I get the go-ahead from Fidelity.  Who are being useless about giving me a definitive answer.

I just remembered I used these guys years ago too for something from London and it worked fine. https://www.notarycam.com/ . A company whose board I'm on once had me use this one for something https://www.notarize.com/ and that was also smooth from the UK. Both are cheaper options. But Fidelity remains the big issue for you!

Just been told by Fidelity that they are insisting on signing in-person at the US embassy....

Just been told by Fidelity that they are insisting on signing in-person at the US embassy....

Well, that is an absolute bummer!!

These rules will almost certainly not be those that Fidelity has but the pension provider for which they are the custodian.  I say this because after my wife and I retired we wanted to roll over our company 401k pensions to Rollover IRAs with Vanguard.  Fidelity was the custodian of my wife's 401k and Schwab was the custodian of mine.  Fidelity rolled over the money electronically via wire transfer no problem and Schwab initially said they would do the same then came back to me and apologized saying that the rules of the pension provider only permitted a physical check of the total amount being sent to my address on record. To avoid a tax bombshell they did make out the check to Vanguard with my new Vanguard IRA account number on it so when I received the very large check I immediately sent it via Fedex to Vanguard.   

You're probably right: they are essentially administrators for the company that provided the pension (Hewlett-Packard), which calls the shots. But the requirement doesn't make any sense: those online notarisation services involve a US notary on the end of a webcam, who checks your ID and watches you sign just as they would if physically present. Online notaries don't seem to be a problem for other companies - including for some much higher-value transactions than my pension, I suspect!

You're probably right: they are essentially administrators for the company that provided the pension (Hewlett-Packard), which calls the shots. But the requirement doesn't make any sense: those online notarisation services involve a US notary on the end of a webcam, who checks your ID and watches you sign just as they would if physically present. Online notaries don't seem to be a problem for other companies - including for some much higher-value transactions than my pension, I suspect!

Oh, I agree, and have used online notaries myself.