Apostille, mobile fingerprinting and resident agent services in Massachusetts

An apostille is the certificate the Secretary of the Commonwealth attaches to a Massachusetts document to confirm the signature and the seal on it, so that another country can accept it. Countries in the 1961 Hague convention honor it without any further embassy step. You hand us the document, choose a speed, and we check it against the State's rules, notarize it when the document requires it and file it with the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The finished document comes back by pickup in Tewksbury, by USPS or by FedEx.

Processing time depends on the service plan and on how many applications the State is processing, so the day counts are estimates that move with State volume. The clock starts when your documents are delivered to our office. Mail time before delivery does not count, and a set you hand in at the counter starts at hand-in. Express and Rush take higher priority in our processing. Economy is the slowest because we send the documents to the government agency and back to you by First-Class Mail, unless you upgrade shipping at checkout.

Return shipping is charged separately. The price is per document, so count before you pick a speed. A birth certificate, a marriage certificate and a notarized power of attorney are three documents: $450 at Economy, $599.85 at Express and $1,157.85 at Rush. Rush costs $707.85 more than Economy on that set, so work back from your appointment abroad, leave room for State volume and buy only the speed the date calls for.

Before you come. For a marriage certificate, bring a certified copy from the city or town clerk where the license was filed. For a birth certificate, bring a certified copy from the clerk where the birth was recorded or from the state's vital records office. For a notarized document, check that the seal is legible and that the notary's commission expiration date is on the page in full. Those are two of the four checks in the Secretary of the Commonwealth's brochure. For a diploma or transcript from a Massachusetts school, the school registrar certifies the record in front of a notary first, and the notary then notarizes the registrar's signature.

Which country? An apostille serves destinations in the Hague convention. The Hague Conference's status table, last updated June 30, 2026, lists 130 contracting parties. The Secretary of the Commonwealth recommends confirming what is needed with officials in the destination country, because the State cannot guarantee acceptance in every situation. For a destination outside the convention, the document goes through embassy legalization, from $400, and apostille or legalization explains the difference.

Start with the apostille services page, or read the guides for birth certificates, college diplomas, death certificates and the FBI background check for a visa.

A resident agent is the person or company a limited liability company names with the state to receive service of process, which means the legal papers that start a lawsuit. Under M.G.L. c.156C, section 5, every Massachusetts LLC must have and maintain a resident agent in the commonwealth, and the agent must be an individual resident of the commonwealth, a domestic corporation, or a foreign corporation authorized to do business in the commonwealth. Corporations fall under chapter 156D, which calls the same role a registered agent.

Court papers can arrive in any month, and a missed envelope can lead to a default judgment. The certificate of organization that forms an LLC lists the agent's name and address (section 12), so the address on file matters as much as the name. We offer resident agent service from our Tewksbury address, at a counter that is staffed Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 5 PM.

Questions to ask any resident agent, including us.

• Whose name appears on the state record as the agent?
• Where do legal papers go, and who signs for them?
• On which days is a person at that address?
• How will you be told the day something arrives?
• Can the agent address also receive your business mail and parcels?

A separate Business mailbox at the same street address holds bank statements, supplier mail and packages for up to 60 days, and the Business mailbox plan is $450 a year. Resident agent service runs on that same Business plan at $450 a year. Call (978) 851-0199 with the company's exact name to start. The resident agent page has the details, and these guides answer the common questions: resident agent requirements, can I be my own registered agent and a virtual address for an LLC.

A mailbox here is our street address plus a private mailbox number of your own, at a counter where a person takes in what arrives. A mailbox accepts mail and packages from USPS, FedEx, UPS, Amazon, LaserShip and DHL. You can start one at the counter, or order a plan online.

The monthly column is the yearly price divided by twelve, there for comparison. Six-month terms are sold as well. Business costs $120 a year more than Personal, which is $10 a month, and each item can wait 60 days where Personal allows 30.

What to bring. Two pieces of ID. The Postal Service form that every private mailbox is opened with, PS Form 1583, asks for one government photo ID and one document showing your home address, such as a lease, a vehicle registration card or a voter card. A driver's license can fill either slot but not both. The form says you sign it, or confirm your signature, in front of the mailbox agent, or acknowledge it to a notary, so leave the signature line blank until then. The Form 1583 guide goes step by step.

After that. Every plan includes the Neighborhood Parcel Mailbox app, free on the App Store, on Google Play and in a browser. It shows what has arrived, and you tell us what to do with each item: keep it for you to collect, or send it on by FedEx or USPS. The mailbox app page shows how it works.

Drop-off shredding is walk-in. We weigh the paper at the counter and charge 99 cents per pound. Every job also carries a $14.95 HIPAA filing fee and a $19.95 environmental fee. One full banker's box of about 30 lb comes to $29.70 + $14.95 + $19.95 = $64.60.

From ten boxes up there is a flat rate of $15 for a small box and $20 for a large one, with the two fees on top. Twelve large boxes are 12 × $20 = $240, plus $34.90, or $274.90. Staples and paper clips can stay on. Large metal clamps and coil bindings come off first.

Small drop-offs are shredded at the store in Tewksbury. Larger loads and pickups go to a partner shredding plant, and every job gets a certificate of destruction. Pickups, scheduled bins and hard drive destruction are quoted per job. The document shredding page sorts all of it by what you have.

Each row adds up prices already given on this page. Swap in your own signatures, page counts and pounds.

The notary lines use the starting fee. Shipping is left out because it is quoted per package. Do the visit in this order.

1. Book the appointment part first

   Notary and fingerprinting run by appointment. Call (978) 851-0199 and plan the rest of the visit around that time.

2. Notarize before you copy

   Copies made after the notary has signed and sealed the page show the seal.

3. Send the original, keep the copy

   The notarized original goes into the FedEx or USPS envelope, or into the apostille order.

4. Weigh the shredding last

   Pull out anything you still have to keep or mail. What is left goes on the scale as one job, so the $34.90 in fees is charged once.