Notary Services Glossary beginning with W

Wafer is a term used for a self-adhesive seal (also known as legal seals, red seals, notary seals, foils, or legal wafers). A wafer is often applied prior to impressing a seal on a document. Red wafers are reminiscent of the red wax that was historically used for sealing and embossing documents. Gold wafers are also used as gold metal was sometimes melted for to seal important ancient documents.

A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations in the paper. Watermarks can be used to discourage counterfeiting. 

Watermarks are often used as security features of banknotes, passports, postage stamps, and other documents.

A watermark can be used for dating, identifying sizes, mill trademarks and locations, and determining the quality of a sheet of paper.

A will, or "last will and testament", is a legal declaration by which a person, known as the "testator" (male) or "testatrix" (female), names one or more people to manage his or her estate.  These appointees are knows as an executor (male) or executrix (female).  A will provides for the disposition of an individual's assets and other property after his or her death.  There are certain strict requirements regarding the drafting and execution of wills in British Columbia.  Our services include the drafting of wills, provisions of witnesses for execution, and notification of the B.C. Wills Registry.

 A person who watches an action take place, such as the execution (signing) of a document.

Please see 'Notarization', or 'Acknowledgment'.

Any person of legal age (in British Columbia, over 19 years old) and who is mentally capable may witness the execution or signing of a document, so long as they do not have a financial or other material interest in the document in question.  There are particular legislated requirements that apply to certain documents, most importantly, a will.