How to find a notary to found your GmbH or UG

· 5 minute read

Part of a short series on reaching out to the service providers you need to found a GmbH or UG.

Why you need a notary

A GmbH or UG only comes into existence through notarisation. The Notar records the articles of association (Gesellschaftsvertrag) and the founding act (§ 2 GmbHG), then files the application with the commercial register. There is no way around it, and no reason to shop on price: notary fees are fixed by law (GNotKG). Every Notar charges the same for the same act.

Since every notary costs the same, what you are looking for is availability and responsiveness, and ideally whether they offer online notarisation (Online-Beurkundung, possible since the DiRUG reform). Pick a notary in your own state (Bundesland), ideally near your registered office. Notaries are appointed to a specific district (Amtsbereich) and are expected to exercise their office within it; a local one is also simpler for in-person appointments and tends to know the competent Amtsgericht. Use the Bundesnotarkammer’s Notarsuche or a referral from your tax advisor to find one nearby.

The bottleneck is usually your own decisions, not the appointment. If your first email already answers what the Notar would otherwise have to ask, they don’t need to explain the process to you: they send their founding questionnaire (Gründungsfragebogen), start drafting the articles, and things move. That is what everything below is for.

What to put in your first email

You don’t need everything up front, just enough for the Notar to send their questionnaire and begin the draft:

  • GmbH or UG (haftungsbeschränkt)?
  • Company name and Sitz: proposed name plus the registered-office city (must be in Germany)
  • Company purpose (Unternehmensgegenstand): 1-3 sentences
  • Shareholders (Gesellschafter): each name with their % stake
  • Managing director(s) (Geschäftsführer): who, and can be a non-shareholder (Fremd-GF)
  • Share capital (Stammkapital): UG from €1, GmbH min. €25,000; cash contribution assumed
  • Format and timeline: in-person or online notarisation, and when you’d like to found

That’s enough for the Notar to reply with their Gründungsfragebogen and the KYC/beneficial-owner questionnaire.

The email

You’ll be writing to a German notary, so send the German version. The English version is for reference.

German

Betreff: Beurkundungstermin GmbH-/UG-Gründung — [FIRMA]

Sehr geehrte(r) [NAME],

wir möchten eine [GmbH / UG (haftungsbeschränkt)] gründen und würden gern
einen Beurkundungstermin vereinbaren.

Eckdaten:
- Rechtsform: [GmbH / UG (haftungsbeschränkt)]
- Firma: [FIRMA]
- Sitz: [STADT]
- Unternehmensgegenstand: [1–3 SÄTZE]
- Gesellschafter (mit Anteil): [NAME 1 – X %], [NAME 2 – Y %]
- Geschäftsführer: [NAME(N)]
- Stammkapital (Bareinlage): [BETRAG] EUR
- Beurkundung: [vor Ort / online]

Zeitrahmen: [z. B. in den nächsten 2–3 Wochen]

Könnten Sie uns Ihren Gründungsfragebogen zusenden und uns mitteilen,
welche Unterlagen Sie benötigen?

Vielen Dank und beste Grüße,
[DEIN NAME]
[TELEFON]

English

Subject: Notarisation appointment for founding a GmbH/UG — [COMPANY NAME]

Dear [NAME],

We would like to found a [GmbH / UG (haftungsbeschränkt)] and would like to
arrange a notarisation appointment.

Key details:
- Legal form: [GmbH / UG (haftungsbeschränkt)]
- Company name: [COMPANY NAME]
- Registered office (Sitz): [CITY]
- Business purpose: [1–3 SENTENCES]
- Shareholders (with stake): [NAME 1 – X %], [NAME 2 – Y %]
- Managing director(s): [NAME(S)]
- Share capital (cash contribution): [AMOUNT] EUR
- Notarisation: [in person / online]

Timeline: [e.g. within the next 2–3 weeks]

Could you send us your founding questionnaire (Gründungsfragebogen) and let
us know which documents you need?

Thank you and best regards,
[YOUR NAME]
[PHONE]

The full list: what a Notar needs from you

After your first email, the Notar sends a questionnaire covering all of this. Their questions cluster into five buckets. Having the answers ready is what turns a multi-week back-and-forth into a single clean draft.

1. Company data (mandatory articles content, § 3 Abs. 1 GmbHG)

  • Firma (name) including the suffix GmbH / UG (haftungsbeschränkt) (§ 4 GmbHG)
  • Sitz (registered office, city-level, must be in Germany): determines the competent Amtsgericht
  • Unternehmensgegenstand (business purpose, precise) (§ 3 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 GmbHG)
  • Stammkapital (UG: min. €1; GmbH: min. €25,000) (§ 5 / § 5a GmbHG)
  • Nennbetrag and number of Geschäftsanteile per shareholder (each share ≥ €1)

2. Identity data (every shareholder and managing director)

  • Natural persons: full name, date and place of birth, residential address, nationality, valid ID (Personalausweis/Reisepass in person; eID-enabled ID for Online-Beurkundung per § 16a BeurkG)
  • Legal-entity shareholders: name and legal form, seat and country, Registergericht + HRB number, a certified Handelsregister excerpt (< 3 months old), and who represents the entity

3. Governance decisions (needed to draft the Gesellschaftsvertrag)

  • Who are the Geschäftsführer (≥ 1; can be a non-shareholder Fremd-GF) (§ 6 GmbHG)
  • Einzel- vs. Gesamtvertretung (sole vs. joint representation) (§ 35 GmbHG)
  • Befreiung von § 181 BGB (self-dealing exemption; matters for a solo founder-GF)
  • Musterprotokoll vs. individual articles: the Musterprotokoll works for ≤ 3 shareholders + 1 GF, cash contribution only (§ 2 Abs. 1a GmbHG); individual articles are needed for vesting, drag-along, or share classes
  • Deviating profit distribution (default is pro rata, § 29 GmbHG); optional GF non-compete

4. KYC / AML: beneficial owner (§§ 10, 11 GwG)

The Notar is legally required to identify the beneficial owners (wirtschaftlich Berechtigte) before notarising, usually via a questionnaire sent beforehand:

  • Who holds > 25% of shares or votes (name, address, nationality, DOB, % stake)
  • Any Treuhand / Poolverträge / veto rights granting control beyond the nominal share
  • If no natural person > 25%, the Geschäftsführer is documented as the fictitious beneficial owner (fiktiver UBO, § 3 Abs. 2 S. 5 GwG)
  • Corporate shareholders: the chain is traced up to the natural persons

This data is reused for the Transparenzregister filing (§ 19 GwG) and for opening the Geschäftskonto.

5. Logistics

  • In-person or Online-Beurkundung? (equivalent since DiRUG, § 16a ff. BeurkG; online requires an eID)
  • Vollmacht if a shareholder can’t attend (the power of attorney must itself be notarised first)
  • Participants abroad? (allowed for online notarisation, § 16b Abs. 3 BeurkG)
  • Planned Stammkapital deposit date: the Notar files the register application only after the deposit confirmation (Einzahlungsnachweis)

What happens next

  1. The Notar sends the Gründungsfragebogen and the beneficial-owner (KYC) questionnaire.
  2. They draft the Gesellschaftsvertrag and send it to you to review before the appointment.
  3. At the Beurkundung (in person, or online with your eID) the founding is recorded. From this point you have a GmbH i.G. (in Gründung).
  4. You pay in the Stammkapital to the business account and send the Notar the Einzahlungsnachweis.
  5. The Notar files the application with the Handelsregister and handles the Transparenzregister entry.
  6. The Amtsgericht registers the company. Now the GmbH/UG legally exists.

Notes

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Notary fees follow the GNotKG. Always confirm specifics with your Notar.

company formationoutreach