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Commissioner for Oaths

A "Commissioner for Oaths" in the Province of Alberta may witness signatures on legal documents or witness a witnesses signature on legal documents such as Statutory Declarations, Land Titles Transfers, Vital Statistics Documents, Divorce Documents, etc. A "Commissioner for Oaths" may NOT perform other actions, such as certifying true copies, completion of documents, etc.

If your documents require certification by a Notary Public, you must have them certified by a lawyer. 

Corporate Registry Services

CORES, Alberta's Corporate Registry System, registers information about businesses in the province of Alberta.

If you are starting a business in Alberta we can provide a number of services, including NUANS searches to determine the availability of a business name.

When you are ready to register or incorporate your business, we can also provide that service for you.

CORES information -- by definition -- is not confidential. Corporate Account clients can login and submit requests through our web site.

For more information please contact our offices at tel:  (403) 273-3730 or click here to send us an email.

Corporate Services Level 1

Level 1 Accreditation

Services for Alberta and Extra-Provincial Corporations

Services for Trade Names, Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, and Limited Liability Partnerships

Corporate Services Level 2

Level 2 Accreditation

Services for Alberta Corporations

Services for Extra-Provincial Corporations

Services for Limited Partnerships and Limited Liability Partnerships

Corporate Services Level 3

Level 3 Accreditation

Services for Alberta Corporations

Services for Extra-Provincial Corporations

Starting a Business - Business Startups:

Recent changes to CORES systems have made the filing of documents you need to start and maintain a business in Alberta even easier! Now, we can register all businesses -- whether Trade Names, Partnerships or Corporations -- online from our office, often while you wait.

Starting a business involves a myriad of related tasks. From a paperwork perspective, one of the first things to consider is its legal structure. Will it be a sole proprietorship (owned by an individual and operating under a trade name), a partnership (or limited partnership) or will it be incorporated as a limited company. There are pros and cons to each when considering these different structures.

If you are not familiar with the ramifications and consequences of this choice, you may wish to consult an accounting or legal professional. At the very least, visit the Library or a local book store and do some research on the subject. Also, our office sells kits for people starting businesses.

If you've read up or consulted a professional, you will be better prepared when you come in to register your business. Unless you are registering an incorporated numbered company, you should also give thought to what you will call the business.

The legal structure also partly influences the name of the business. For example:
"Joe's Shoe Repair" would signify a proprietorship.
"Joe's Shoe Repair Corp." or
"Joe's Shoe Repair Inc." or
"Joe's Shoe Repair Ltd." would signify corporations.

Using the name of your proposed business, we can provide a NUANS search which will yield a listing of other businesses with similar names. The purpose of this is to determine if the name you want is already in use or not. NUANS searches are mandatory if you are incorporating a company -- unless it is a numbered company -- and optional (but definitely highly recommended) for registering a trade name.

Ultimately, the decision to use a particular name is yours, provided it is not identical to an existing company. However, be aware that you should avoid using any name which might, in the mind of the public, confuse your business with another business. That other business could object and potentially force you to change your name. Once you have decided on the legal structure and name, your business can be registered or incorporated.

You will need to have your business registered or incorporated before any Bank will allow you to establish an account in the name of the business.

Some things we CAN'T do for you at our office, but that will likely need to be done afterwards, as part of your business startup:

You will likely need to obtain a Business Licence from the City of Calgary or other local jurisdiction, depending on where your business is located.

You will likely need to apply for a Goods and Services Tax licence from the Federal Government. This allows you to collect GST on sales and receive GST credit for purchases where you have paid GST.

You will likely want to talk to Worker's Compensation to determine if your business needs to provide coverage for employees.

Note: City, Provincial and Federal Governments also require that your business is registered or incorporated before you can proceed with their applications.

For more information please contact our offices at  (403) 273-3730  or click here to send us an email.

Land Title Services

Land Titles records the ownership of all land in Alberta. Mortgages, caveats and all other encumbrances against property are also registered in this system.

Please note that Registry offices have read-only access to Land Titles data. They cannot update any information on the system -- only query, search and report on it. For example, if your mortgage was recently paid out, you cannot come to a Registry office to update the title on your property; only the Land Titles office can change the files. In Calgary they are located in the Land Titles Building, downtown at 710 - 4th Avenue S.W., phone (403) 297-6511. Once the data is updated, we can print you a new search which would reflect the current information.

Land Titles information -- by definition -- is not confidential. Corporate Account clients can login and submit requests through our web site.

Land Titles searches require the Legal Description (for an additional cost) of the property or its LINC (Land Information Numeric Code) Number. For many Alberta municipalities--including the City of Calgary--from the civic Street Address we can first do a Cross Reference search to obtain to the legal description. Many for rural areas are not online though, so expect some time delay completing your search if you do not have the Legal Description.

For commonly used forms, click here to get a complete list from the Alberta Government web site.

Personal Property Services

The Personal Property System of Alberta (PPSA) registers and tracks liens and encumbrances on property owned by individuals or businesses other than Real Property (real estate or land) -- see Land Titles for that.

PPSA searches can be done by serial number or by individual or business name.

The most common consumer example of a PPSA search would be a Lien Search on a used automobile. A more sophisticated search, the Vehicle information Report (VIR) is also available and provides more information. However, the VIR--if a lien is present--only shows there is a lien. In that case you may want to also do a Lien Search to get the details of it.

PPSA information -- by definition -- is not confidential. Corporate Account clients can login and submit requests through our web site.

- PPSA Forms -

Prorate Registrations and Renewal Services

We do provide Pro-rate services at our registry, if you need further information regarding Pro-rate before rendering our services, please go to the Service Alberta Website:

For additional Alberta Prorate Information please contact them directly:

Hours:    8:15 am- 12:00 pm

1:00 pm - 4:30 pm (Monday- Friday, closed statuatory holidays)

Phone:    (403) 297-2920

Toll Free:    310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)

Address:    Prorate Services

Alberta Transportation
1st Floor, 803 Manning Road NE
Calgary, Alberta T2E 7M8

Vital Statistics Services

Vital Statistics records major life events of people such as Births, Marriages, Changes of Name and Deaths. Certificates are issued -- including Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates and Death Certificates -- to document these events.

Marriage Licenses are also a function of Vital Statistics, as is the appointment of Marriage Commissioners.

Vital Statistics records all births in the Province and annually they issue a list of the most popular baby names. Vital Statistics information is confidential, and therefore requests for certificates or other information is subject to eligibility requirements.

For a current list of Marriage Commissioners, please contact us at  (403) 273-3730 and we can fax you a current one OR e-mail us here to request a current listing. For Vital Statistics forms applicable in other provinces please visit our Forms page.

Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates for Non-residents of Alberta: help non-residents of Alberta get copies of their birth, marriage and death certificates, and other Vital Statistics documents, please visit Registry Connect. https://www.registryconnect.ca/

Legal Name ChangeOur experienced staff can assist you in processing your legal name change documents. You can find the documents on line here.

Mandatory Fingerprinting and Name check services (RCMP Certified and Accredited Agency) information can be found here.

You can also book an appointment here for Fingerprinting services here.