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Q: Chinese lawyers..are they all extortionists?
I have a couple of documents that require a lawyer to witness my signature and this is proving to be something of a headache.
The lawyer doesn't need to understand the contents of the document, or do anything at all other than watch me sign and then sign themselves as a witness.
That they charge a fee to sign and date two pieces of paper, taking no more than 2 minutes of their time, isn't unreasonable....
but charging 1,000 yuan is extortion!
Yep, that's been the quote at two companies and I just can't get my head around that.
What a rip-off!
Anyone else had experience with this sort of stuff?
Are you positive that you need a lawyer to witness your signature? There are notaries who can witness and stamp (chop) documents for a lot less.
royceH:
The forms are for Enduring Guardians for my parents and I'm asked to sign them before a 'qualified legal practitioner witness.'
I'm presuming that means a lawyer...could it be otherwise?
icnif77:
Ask at your Embassy for advice on real needs and possibilities.
Some are quite decent chaps. Good and bad in every profession I recon.
a lawyer in china knows what the law is supposed to be, but never enforced.
i would suggest your school or neighbors who have businesses have to deal with lawyers and get a referral from a chinese colleague, this way your friend and the lawyer can split the money and your giving a friend 500 rmb, maybe he will buy you a bowl of noodles.
Yes but then the US lawyers are not much better. The majority of our ellected officials are lawyers and look what reputations they have. Is it any wonder that Costa Rica will not allow lawyers to run for public office. Smart people.
Lawyers all over the world are the same. Why would a Lawyer in China be any different?
Royce, try the Oz Consulate. I had the same problem almost and didn't want to spend a lot of moulah and I was able to obtain a consular authentifcation an witness, total price I think under AUS 100.00.
1000RMB for a lawyer notary? Wow, that's cheap!
Put on your big boy pants and just pay the fee.
You probably don't understand why notaries cost money.
Try putting yourself in their shoes.
So you witness the signing of these documents and collect your 1000RMB from people like you. You think it ends there and you made easy money? WRONG!!!
The reason these documents require the notary in the first place is because there is a good chance that the authenticity of the documents will be denied.
When that happens, you (as the lawyer that witnessed the signature) needs to show up in court (by court order which cannot be refused) to defend the authenticity of the documents and defend the fact that you saw them signed. That could mean having you (the lawyer) sit around waiting 3-4 hours at a time and day that is convenience for the court (not you!) and you have to do it **WITHOUT PAY** to testify in court as to the authenticity of the documents about some trial that you (the lawyer) dont give two craps about.
Do you get it now? $150 for possibily wasting 3-4 hours of a lawyer's time. It's not a bad price at all. Considering the huge PITA it could potentially be.
In the USA, lawyer notaries cost thousands of dollars at the low end. Luckily though, they're almost never required for anything other than big out-of-court settlements. In the USA, a regular notary is sufficient for most matters and they typically cost $25-$100.
I have no idea why a regular notary wouldn't be sufficient for you? Are you signing an out-of-court settlement? If so, man up and pay the lawyer fee as chances are that lawyer is going to end up saving your a$$ later.
Thanks folks above.
I had two further lawyers quote me 2000 and 4000 respectively before I contacted the lawyer in Aust to inquire about a Notary Public witnessing instead. And I got a green light for that.
The papers were only for nominating me as an alternate Power of Attorney for my parents. Purely administrative.
The Notary Public was a typical chinese bureaucratic nonsense. Four visits spread over almost two weeks and when it finally came down to it, they wouldn't put their signature on the piece of paper. Instead, they created about 20 pages of rubbish, all of which they wanted me to sign.
By the end of the ordeal I was pretty pumped up, I can tell you.
But still, they wouldn't sign the bloody papers. So, I took matters into my own hands......
