My name is Vinh T. Tran,  I am a licensed, insured, and practising lawyer. I am also a registered notary public and an officer of the court to commission oaths/affidavits/statutory declarations in and for the Courts and the Province of Ontario, Canada. I am a registered member in good standing with the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, and the Official Documents Services Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Government Services. You can take solace in knowing that I will properly notarize and commission your document in accordance to the laws and standards for use in Canada and foreign jurisdictions.  I take pride in the fact that my legal authority and identity can easily be verified by different agencies, including but not limited to: financial institutions, law firms, hospitals, universities, embassies and consulate offices in Canada and around the world. All reputable lawyers, notaries public, and commissioners of oaths in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, never refuse to disclose their full names, credentials, contact information, and fees.

I provide personal house calls and mobile legal services to Torontonians and those living in the Greater Toronto Area, including but not limited to: the Town of Ajax, Ancaster, Aurora, Barrie, Belleville, Bolton, Bracebridge, Brandford, Brampton, Brockville, Burlington, Caledon, Cobourg, Collingwood, Cooksville, Durham, East York, Etobicoke, Gravenhurst, Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Guelph, Halton, Hamilton, Hanover, Havelock, Huntsville, Kingston, King City, Kitchener, London, Manotick, Markham, Meaford, Milton, Mississauga, Newmarket, Nepean, Niagara Falls, Niagara on the Lake, Newcastle, North York, Oakville, Orangeville, Orillia, Orleans, Oshawa, Peterborough, Peel Region, Pickering, Scarborough, Thornhill, Downtown Toronto, Upper Canada, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Unionville, Weston, Willowdale, Whitby, Woodbridge, and locally at Yorkdale Shopping Mall, Eaton Centre, Bay Atrium, Yonge-Bloor Yorkville, College Park, Kensington Market, Chinatown, Koreatown, High Park, Little Italy, Greektown, Cabbagetown, College Park, also including most of the nursing homes and hospitals where many of my clients are doctors, nurses and patients. As long as the clients are willing to accept the notarization and travel fees then I am happy to make a visit to see them at the comfort of their homes or place of business. In the alternative, if you want to save on money and you can travel to see me in Toronto, I provide exceptional professional legal services for very affordable notarization fees.

LEGAL ESTATE DOCUMENTS AND PROFESSIONAL INDEPENDENT LEGAL ADVICE
1. Wills and Codicils
2. Power of Attorney for Property
3. Power of Attorney for Personal Care
4. Affidavits of Execution of Wills and Powers of Attorney
5. ILA Certificate - Independent Legal Advice Certificate for Mortgages and all forms of Contracts and Agreements (including, but not limited to Divorce and Separation Agreements).

Unlike non-practising lawyers who act as notaries public and who are not insured and are not permitted to provide legal advice, as a practising and insured lawyer, I DO offer the above legal services and my fees will reflect the work and insurance coverage levi that I must consider when placing my seal on those documents. These are important documents that carry great risk of liability to my practice. The fees that I charge for notarization do not justify the risk of placing my good name and credentials on documents that have been drafted by lay persons or printed off the internet. The fees for these documents will start at $200.  

1. Power Attorney for Personal Care = $200 Tax Included
2. Power Attorney for Property = $200 Tax Included
3. Powers of Attorney - Personal Care and Property = $300 Tax Included
4. Will = $300 to $500 Tax Included*
5. Will and 2 Powers of Attorney Combo = $600 to $800 Tax Included*
6. Mirror Couple Combo - 2 Wills 4 Powers of Attorney = $800 to $1000 - Tax Included*
7. Independent Legal Advice - ILA = $300 to $600 depending on legal issue, age and educational level the client, complexity, urgency, number of pages, and distance from lawyer's office.

* Scale Fees Depending on:
1. Completion of Self-Administered Questionnaire
2. Urgency
3. Age of the Client
4. Underage Children
5. Real Estate Properties, Extra Provincial and International Assets
6. Family Composition (Divorce, Separation, Common Law Relationship, Blended Family etc)
7. Complex Trusts and Unusual Requests
8. Distance from the Lawyer's Office
9. Access to Email Communication

In addition, all of the above services will include the following:
1. Three Personal House Call Visits to the Client

• Intake - 30min to 90min consultation and Retainer Agreement
• Execution - Attendance for Execution - 30min
• Hand Over - Completed Original Estate Documents, Certified True Copies, Reporting Letters, Receipt.

2. All Original Estate Documents will be returned and given to the client in protective binder sleeves along with certified true copies, affidavits of execution, and reporting letters. 

3. Ongoing communication via email with the client or permitted representatives for review and clarification to finalize the draft. It is expected that the client or a permitted representative will have access to email so that the lawyer can send working drafts to the client for review and approval. 

4. Depending on the documents and services requested, a turn around time is between 2 to days. I will be able to provide an initial draft between 2 to 7 days. But it is highly recommended that the client review and sit on the initial draft provided by my office for several days before approving the final draft. I will NOT accept cases where I am forced to complete a matter within a day. 

The Client's responsibility:
1. Provide all relevant identifications, notes from doctors or social workers (where relevant), papers including insurance, locations of assets and financial institutions, pensions, marriage and divorce certificates, adoption documents etc. 
2. Arrange for 2 witnesses who are not named or related to the any person named within the estate documents. If you require my office to arrange for the witnesses on your behalf, the fee for each witness to be paid directly to the witness will be $75.
3. Payment for services rendered at the completion of the requested services in cash, electronic, or cheque in the lawyer's name. 

Review for completion and accuracy of your Estate Documents drafted by other law firms and lawyers are FREE if you can scan and email the documents to my office. Please do not send the ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS. 

If you would like to receive a questionnaire for estate planning options, please email my office at [email protected]

Toronto Lawyer’s Foreign Divorce Legal Opinion Letter

The Onus:

In order to apply for a Marriage Licence in Ontario after a divorce that occurred in a foreign country/ out-of-country divorce, you will need to submit various documents to the Government of Ontario evidencing that:

• you are no longer married to your ex-spouse(s),
• you now are eligible to get married or remarried legally in Canada
• the divorce decree/ court order/ divorce certificate was properly obtained (as opposed to illegally obtained or obtained by fraud or coercion and duress etc.) and that such court divorce order appears to correspond to the requirements of the Divorce Act and therefore should be recognized as if it was legally obtained and valid in Canada.

For more information visit https://www.ontario.ca/government/getting-married

Documents to Submit:

You will need to send the following documents to:

ServiceOntario
Marriage Office
PO Box 4600
189 Red River Road
Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6L8

1. Marriage licence application: this document contains questions regarding personal information about yourself/applicant and your fiancé/joint applicant which will need to be executed by the applicants.
2. The Foreign Divorce Decree/ Court Order/ Divorce Certificate/ Annulment: an original or court-certified copy. If the decree or court order is in another language, you will need to include an English translated copy and an affidavit sworn by a certified translator.
3. Statement of Sole Responsibility: for each divorce (signed by you/applicant and fiancé  and a witness or by a lawyer/notary public): in other words, for every divorce that either you/applicant or fiancé/joint applicant had previously,  there must be a separate Statement of Sole Responsibility form acknowledging that even if the Government of Ontario were to issue a Marriage Licence to you both pursuant to section 8 of the Marriage Act, it does not necessarily mean that the foreign divorce decree/annulment will be recognized and interpreted as valid by the Courts in the Province of Ontario; and that is it still the sole responsibility of the applicants to ensure that the stated divorce(s) have completely severed any former marriages. The following is a step-by-step instruction to completing the Statement of Sole Responsibility form and to clarify the confusing wordings within the form:
• State your name/name of applicant and city of residency
• State your fiancé name /joint applicant name and city of residency
• State the name of the city, province and country that granted the divorce (this information is within the divorce decree/court order)
• State the official date the divorce was granted (this information is within the divorce decree/court order)
• Re-State your name or your fiance's name (person's whose name is on the divorce degree/court order)
• State the name of the ex-spouse to the previously divorced person (this information is within the divorce decree/court order).
• Sign by the applicants and a witness or by the lawyer/notary public
4. Legal Opinion Letter of the Foreign Divorce Decree/ Court Order/ Divorce Certificate/ Annulment by a registered and insured Ontario lawyer. You will need to retain the services of a lawyer to inspect and review the original divorce decree/court order in order to determine its authenticity. Further, the lawyer is legally obligated to seek clarification surrounding the foreign divorce to determine the legitimacy of the foreign divorce. When the lawyer is satisfied with the information provided, the lawyer will draft and issue a legal opinion letter. The lawyer’s legal opinion letter will address both applicants who are planning to get in Ontario by applying the facts to Canadian law in order to arrive at legal reasons in support of the validity of the foreign divorce and that it should be recognized in Ontario. Upon being properly retained, you will be asked to provide the following document(s) and information to my office:

• Your/Applicant information:
• Full Legal Name and any other aliases as shown on government issued photo ID’s and the divorce decree/ court order (if applicable)
• Date of Birth
• Contact: Address, Phone, Email
• Profession
• Fiancé/Joint Applicant information:
• Full Legal Name and any other aliases as shown on government issued photo ID’s and the divorce decree/ court order (if applicable)
• Date of Birth
• Contact: Address, Phone, Email
• Profession
• Photocopy of ID’s: both yours and your fiancé’s on the same page in duplicate for my certification.
• Original or Court Certified Copy of all divorce decree/ court order for my examination and inspection PLUS a photocopy of the same document for my certification.
• Ex-spouse information:
• Full Legal Name and any other aliases as shown on government issued photo ID’s or the divorce decree/ court order
• Date of Birth
• Confirmation of the wedding date and location
• Confirmation regarding the length of time and location the ex-spouse resided PRIOR to the wedding date.
• Confirmation regarding the length of time and location that you or your ex-spouse stayed PRIOR to the date the divorce was granted.
• Current Contact: Address, Phone, Email (if known)
• Profession
• Whether ex-spouse has remarried (if known).
• Name and contact information of at least two (2) verifiers, persons who can be contacted by my office or the government of Ontario, who can attest to the separation and divorce.

Fees and Process

My fee for a Legal Opinion Letter of a Foreign Divorce Decree/ Court Order depends on urgency:

3 to 5 business days =$200 tax included.

1 to 2 business days =$250 tax included.

Within Several Hours to a Day = $300 tax included (depending on my schedule).

The fee includes the following:

• Intake: continuous communication via text/email/phone calls wherein you will provide the information required as listed above.
• Execution: Personal face-to-meeting – no virtual verification or mail courier verification. One of you must be present to have a face-to-face meeting with me:
• to sign the retainer agreement;
• to make certified true copies of your identification
• to make certified true copies of the divorce decree/ court order
• to sign and seal your Statement of Sole Responsibility
• to provide you with the Legal Opinion Letter re. the validity and recognition of a Foreign Divorce Court Order/ Decree in Ontario in duplicate
• Receipt provided
• You will walk off with all documents in duplicate properly commissioned, certified and notarized.

Policies Regarding Your Identity and Your Documents:

To combat fraud, the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC), which governs lawyers and law firms practicing in the Province of Ontario, Canada, has amended its Bylaw 7.1 which now requires all lawyers to make  identification and verification of ALL clients; Similar regulations are now also in place in most other Canadian jurisdictions.

As a result, please NOTE the following information about yourself MUST now be obtained by my office to comply with the LSUC's identification requirements:

Individual Client:

• Full name - VERIFICATION VIA PHOTO ID'S (non-expired photo IDs.).
• Home address and home telephone number
• Business address and phone number 
• E-mail address
• Occupation
• Copy or photograph of the document where the seal lands.
  

Organization Client:

• Organization’s full name
• Organization’s business address and phone number
• Organization’s incorporation or business identification number and the place of issuance, if applicable.
• The general nature of the type of business or businesses of activity or activities engaged in by the organization (not required if the organization is a financial institution, government body or a company that is not a private company).
• Name, position and contact information of all individuals authorized to provide instructions on behalf of the organization.
• Copy or photograph of the document where the seal lands.

ACCEPTABLE IDENTIFICATIONS: MUST BE VALID AND NON EXPIRED

• Passport - Canadian or Foreign bearing the full legal name
• Driver's Licence
• Canadian Citizenship Card
• Permanent Resident Card
• Indian Status Card
• Ontario Photo Card
• Canadian Federal Firearms Licence
• Nexus Card
• Canadian National Institute for the Blind Identification Card CNIB
• Canadian Armed Forces/ Military Identification Card
• Foreign National Identification Card issued by a Government Agency
• Articles of Incorporation

At least two (2) of the following as secondary identifications if you do not have any of the above listed identifications:

• Canadian Social Insurance Number (SIN) or Social Security Card
  
• Provincial Health Card Card exp. OHIP
• Birth Certificate - short or long form
• Marriage Certificate - Canadian or Foreign
• Old Age Security Card
• Credit Card or Telephone Bill/Gas Bill etc. bearing your full name exactly as the other secondary identification.
• Professional Licence Board and Membership Cards (Law, Medicine, Dentistry, Engineer, Law Enforcement, Paramedics).
• School Transcripts and Current Student Card
• Temporary Resident Permit and Record of Landing
• Liquor Control Board Age of Majority BYID Card

IF YOU ARE UNWILLING TO COMPLY WITH THE CONTACT GUIDELINES OR TO PROVIDE my office with the above mentioned information. PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT MY OFFICE FOR NOTARIAL SERVICES.

For your protection, I am Vinh T. Tran, you can verify my name, pictures, and credentials. I am a sole practitioner, lawyer, notary public and commissioner of oaths. I do not employ anyone who can access your private information. I also do not work for any persons or companies who can dictate the use of your private information. I have given lectures to lawyers and companies on various subjects including creating public trust and how to protect private information from external contractors and agencies, and especially from internal employees. I am NOT associated with, affiliated with, or related to, any other law firm, organization, corporation, association or notaries public directory services.