Sealing Process

The sealing process is the process of getting documents for our Dossier notarized, certified, and authenticated.

Our birth certificates and marriage certificates are certified copies, so they do not have to be notarized. Since they were issued from MS, I have to send them to the MS Secretary of State for certification. I contacted the MS Secretary of States office to verify what needs to be done. I printed a form off their website which I send with the MC and BCs. I plan to mail that this week.

Our other documents have to be notarized and certified in AL. We plan to get the documents notarized in Blount County to expedite the process. After the documents have been notarized, the county clerk's office has to certify the notary. I contacted the Blount County clerk's office to see what we need to do. We just take the notarized documents with a check for $4/document for them to certify. They will do it that day. Then we can mail those documents to the AL Secretary of State for their certification. They say to allow 5 days.

I am not sure if it is best to wait for our home study to be completed to start the sealing process in AL. This is the one document we have not started that will have to go through this process as well. I will need to contact CCAI to get their advice. I am hoping we will be able to start the home study soon.