You are an heir in an Argentine estate and you live in the U.S.: what you will sign, and how, without flying

What the lawyer will ask you for

First, a special power of attorney for the probate case, in favor of the lawyer handling the file (or a trusted relative who instructs the lawyer). The lawyer drafts it: they know which powers the court in that province expects and how it wants them worded.

Why "special" and not a general one: Argentina's Civil and Commercial Code says the powers in a POA are interpreted restrictively, and that accepting an inheritance requires express authority (art. 375, subsection d). A broad "administration" POA you signed years ago for something else will not work — the court flags it and you start over.

Depending on the case, a second document may appear. If you want to assign your inheritance rights to a sibling, or sell them, the Code requires a notarial deed — an escritura pública (art. 1618, subsection a) — executed before a notary in Argentina. From abroad, the usual route is for the POA to include the power to sign that assignment on your behalf. That call belongs to the Argentine lawyer and notary, not to the Florida Notary Public.

What I do not do: draft the POA or tell you which clauses it needs. A Notary Public certifies your signature; the text comes from the Argentine professional. If the notary drafts it, that is the unlicensed practice of law in the United States — and Argentina would reject it anyway.

How you sign from the United States

Florida allows remote online notarization (RON): Part II of Chapter 117 of the Florida Statutes governs appearance by audio-video technology, and the notarial certificate states that you signed "by means of online notarization" (§117.05(4)(c)). In practice:

• You send me the POA your lawyer drafted, as a PDF. I check that it has what the session needs: a signature block, your name exactly as it appears on your ID, and a complete notarial certificate.
• You join the video call with a valid passport or driver's license, the platform verifies your identity, and you sign on camera. The session can be held in Spanish.
• The document is notarized the same business day. You can be in any state — the one who has to be in Florida is the Notary Public.

I am a Florida Notary Public authorized for online notarization (commission HH 652310, verifiable in the state registry), and also a Public Accountant (Argentina) and IRS-registered tax preparer. I mention it because this paperwork crosses two legal systems, and the person signing it off should understand both.

What the apostille is and what it does (and does not do)

Argentina and the United States are both parties to the Hague Convention of 1961 (Argentine Law 23,458). The Convention replaces consular legalization with a single certificate — the apostille — issued by the authority of the country where the document was signed (arts. 2 and 3). For a document notarized by a Florida Notary Public, that authority is the Florida Department of State, and no one else.

Be clear about what it certifies: the authenticity of the notary's signature, the capacity in which the notary acted, and the seal (art. 5). It says nothing about the content and does not "validate" the POA. If the text is wrong, the apostille does not fix it; if the text is right, the apostille means the Argentine court cannot send you to the consulate. The form of the POA is judged by the law of the place where it was signed (Civil and Commercial Code, art. 2649), which is why a POA signed before a Florida Notary Public, with its apostille, is an instrument the court can receive.

On my side, the full process — review, session, apostille and color scan — takes 3 to 4 business days. Shipping the original to Argentina is separate, by tracked courier, and its timing depends on the destination. The Secretary of State runs its own queue, so this is an estimate of our work, not a promise.

The certified translation, in Argentina

The POA may be written in Spanish, but the notarial certificate and the apostille are in English. Argentine Law 20,305 (art. 6) requires any document in a foreign language filed with public or judicial bodies to come with a translation by a licensed public translator (traductor público), and the translators' association legalizes the translator's signature. Each province has its own association. Your lawyer coordinates this in Argentina, with the apostilled document in hand.

Order matters: signature → apostille → translation. The translator translates everything that arrives, apostille included. Translate first and the apostille stays untranslated — you pay twice.

The mistakes that send the file back

• A general POA. Without the express power to accept the inheritance — and whatever else the court requires — it does not work.
• A notarial certificate in Spanish. It sounds logical, "to save on translation." The Florida Department of State is explicit: the notarial statement must be in English, or it will not apostille. It is done in English and translated in Argentina.
• Translating before apostilling. See above.
• Signing before a notary in another state and requesting the apostille in Florida. Each state apostilles what its own notaries signed. A document notarized in Texas is apostilled in Texas.
• Name mismatch. The notary verifies your identity against the ID you present (§117.05(5)). If the POA says "Juan Perez" and the passport says "Juan Carlos Perez," it gets fixed before the session, not after.

Who does what

• The lawyer in Argentina: drafts the POA, coordinates the translator, files it with the court.
• You: a twenty-minute video call with a valid ID.
• Me: I review the document, perform the remote notarization, obtain the apostille from the Florida Department of State, send you the PDF as soon as it is ready, and ship the original. From USD 250 per document; shipping is quoted separately by destination, or you ship with your own courier account.

Sources

• Argentine Civil and Commercial Code, arts. 375(d), 1618(a) and 2649 — current text at argentina.gob.ar.
• Law 20,305, art. 6 (public translators) — argentina.gob.ar.
• Law 23,458 and the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, arts. 2, 3 and 5 — Infoleg · HCCH.
• Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, "Accepted Types of Documents": "The notarial statement must be in English."
• Florida Statutes §117.05, subsections (4) and (5), and Chapter 117, Part II (online notarization).

Keep reading: how a U.S. power of attorney gets apostilled · whether an online notarization can be apostilled · the Argentine tax-agency form they will also ask you for.

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