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Instructing a Taiwan Lawyer From Outside Taiwan
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Instructing a Taiwan Lawyer From Outside Taiwan

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You are outside Taiwan, and a civil case, a company filing, a land transfer, or an immigration application will not wait for a flight. The person you instruct has to be allowed to do the work, the fee has to be stated before the file grows, and, if you start or appeal a case with no place of service in Taiwan, you must name a service agent here. A fluent email does not finish those steps.

How to check that the person may practice

Article 19 of the Attorney Regulation Act says a person who holds a lawyer certificate, and who has joined a local bar association and the national bar federation, may practice throughout Taiwan under the Act.

Article 136 requires the Ministry of Justice to keep a public search for lawyers and for disciplinary decisions. It may show the name, sex, year of birth, certificate number and photograph, office name, email, address and telephone, the local bar, and discipline: removal, suspension, and other discipline within five years. The system is at lawyerbc.moj.gov.tw. Look the person up before you send documents. If the listing is missing, or the office and certificate do not match what you were told, stop. Even where a result shows only the local bar, Article 19 also requires membership of the national federation.

What a retainer can cover

Article 21 says a lawyer may be retained for legal matters, and names trademarks, patents, commercial registration, land registration, immigration, employment services, and other work a statute allows an agent to handle. When handling that work, the lawyer must follow the rules that govern it. So a company change, a land file, or a residence application can be handed to a lawyer without any lawsuit. If the matter turns into one, the rules in the next section decide who may appear.

How the fee is stated

Article 47 says the lawyer must tell the client how the fee is calculated and what the amount is. The Act publishes no fee table, and this note states none. Before the file starts, ask whether the method is time, stages, or a fixed scope, what the figure is, and what it includes. Court fees, translation, and notary or mission charges often sit outside the professional fee. Put that split in the engagement terms.

What changes if there is a civil case?

Article 68 of the Code of Civil Procedure says a litigation agent must be a lawyer. The presiding judge may permit someone who is not a lawyer, and may revoke that permission at any time. The Judicial Yuan sets the standards for the permission. A relative or an adviser abroad should not assume it will be given.

Article 69 requires a power of attorney at the agent's first step in the case. An oral appointment recorded by the clerk, or an appointment the court makes, is an exception a client outside the courtroom usually cannot use. The appointment is made at each instance. There is one statutory way to cover a later instance as well: the power of attorney states, for that specific case, that the appointment is not limited by instance, and the document is notarized.

Article 133 governs service of court papers. If a party or an agent names a service agent, service is made on that agent. Paragraph 2 is narrower. A plaintiff, a petitioner, an appellant, or a person bringing an interlocutory appeal (抗告), who has no place of service in Taiwan, must appoint a service agent with a place of service in Taiwan. A defendant who is not appealing, bringing an interlocutory appeal, or making an application has no duty under that paragraph to appoint a service agent. If you are starting the case or taking it up, name the service agent in the papers. Do not assume the court will use a foreign address; decide with the lawyer you instruct who will act as your service agent.

Article 211-1 lets the court hear a person by audio and video when the place and the court have equipment for a direct hearing and the court considers that appropriate. It may act on a request or on its own, and it must ask the parties. The notice then names where the equipment is. The article does not give a right to stay away. If a record or other document needs the speaker's signature, the court sends it to the speaker's location; the speaker checks it, signs it, and sends it back by fax or other technology. Until the court says otherwise, plan to be where it tells you to be.

How are documents signed abroad authenticated?

The Document Legalization Act for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Overseas Missions sets out how a document made abroad is authenticated before it goes to a Taiwan authority.

Article 10 sends a document made abroad to the mission that covers the place it was made, unless the mission that receives the application sees a special case, finds that verification is not difficult, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs approves. Article 9 lists what a mission may authenticate, including a document a notary in its district has notarized, a document a local authority has made or authenticated, and a private document made in the mission's district. Article 12 says the applicant signs or acknowledges their own signature on a private document in front of consular staff. For another private document, the mission may require a local notary or authority first.

Article 15 limits the stamp to the signature, or to the document existing in form. It does not prove the contents. The Bureau of Consular Affairs says the same in its note on authentication: the office that will use the document still decides whether it meets that office's requirements. Its note on the overseas sequence says the issuing country's own notary or authority step must be completed first, and that the steps differ, so ask the mission that will receive the paper. A flowchart is on the Bureau's overseas-document page.

Article 15-1 covers a place that has an agreement with Taiwan waiving repeat authentication. After the authority that place designates has authenticated the document, it has the same effect as authentication by a Taiwan mission. The Bureau lists the agreements on its agreements page. Check that page for where you will sign. A home notary's stamp, with no further step, is not itself what Article 10 describes.

For a lawsuit, read Article 69 beside this Act. Notarization is what lets one power of attorney run past the first instance. Authentication is how a notarization done abroad is shown in form. Ask what the clerk expects on that power of attorney before you book the notary. If the matter is a divorce, see living abroad while your Taiwanese spouse is in Taiwan. To enforce a foreign judgment in Taiwan, see enforcing a foreign judgment against assets in Taiwan.

Can a foreign lawyer act in Taiwan?

Article 115 says a foreign lawyer needs Ministry of Justice permission and, within six months, membership of a bar association. One exception is a retainer limited to a matter already pending before a foreign court, prosecutor, administrative authority, arbitral tribunal, or mediation body. Practice in Taiwan under that exception is limited to 30 days at a time and 90 days in a year. The other exception is a treaty or agreement. Permission under Article 115 is not, by itself, the right to act as litigation agent in a Taiwan civil court. Article 68 still requires a lawyer unless the presiding judge permits someone else.

What to send first

This note describes the statutes. It does not say how a case will end.

Write to Attorney Wei Tseng (曾雋崴) at Hovering International Law Firm. She will need a short account of the task, the country you are in, and any fixed date. If a case exists, name the court and the case number, and say whether you are the plaintiff, the petitioner, the appellant, or the person bringing an interlocutory appeal. Say whether you have a place of service in Taiwan, and name the city where you would sign. Say which language you want for the consultation.

Email wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw. The office is at 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103, Taiwan (103 臺北市大同區承德路一段35號7樓之2). Ask how to send papers. Ask for the fee method and the amount in that first exchange.

Official sources

Checked: September 29, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I check that someone may practice as a lawyer in Taiwan?
Article 19 of the Attorney Regulation Act says a person may practice throughout Taiwan after obtaining a lawyer certificate and joining both a local bar association and the national bar federation. The Ministry of Justice publishes a lawyer search at lawyerbc.moj.gov.tw. Article 136 lists what that system may show, including the name, the certificate, the office, and the local bar.
Can a relative or a consultant appear for me in a civil case?
Under Article 68 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the litigation agent in a civil case must be a lawyer, unless the presiding judge permits someone who is not a lawyer. The judge may revoke that permission at any time. A power of attorney is filed at the agent's first step in the case, and a fresh appointment is made at each instance, unless the power of attorney states, for a specific case, that the appointment is not limited by instance and it has been notarized.
If I have no address in Taiwan, who receives court papers?
Article 133, paragraph 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure applies to a plaintiff, a petitioner, an appellant, or a person bringing an interlocutory appeal, who has no place of service in Taiwan. That person appoints a service agent with a place of service in Taiwan. The duty is not imposed on every party.

This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual matter.

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