Below are some of the requirements from MASSACHUSETTS Secretary of State to Apostille documents or provide a Certificate of authority:
Vital Records: Birth and Death Certificates must be original certified copies issued by Massachusetts Vital Records. Certified copies of a Marriage Certificate can be obtained from the city or town clerk where you applied and filed your Marriage License. A notary public may not certify a photocopy of a document that is a vital record or a public record.
Court Documents: Certified copies of a Judgment or Divorce decree can be obtained from the district court clerk in the district where the divorce was filed.
Police records or Criminal Reports: Copy of your Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) can be obtained from the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Information Services, www.mass.gov/cjis. Police Certificate of Good Standing can be obtained from the local Police Department.
Educational documents: Have your school registrar certify to the record in the presence of a Notary then the Notary Public will notarize the signature of the school registrar.
All other documents: (such as a power of attorney, affidavit, authorization letter etc…) must first be notarized by a Massachusetts Commissioned notary public. Massachusetts notaries may not certify nor authenticate a photograph. However, a Notary Public may notarize a statement by the principal regarding the photograph.
Foreign Language Documents: Documents in foreign language can be Apostilled as long as the Notarial wording is in English.