---
title: "Identity and authority checklist for a client overseas"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/overseas-client-identity-and-authority"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a21-overseas-client-identity-and-authority"
area_id: "A21"
kind: "checklist"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A21-IN20261023-18", "A21-IN20261023-4"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-23"
---

# Identity and authority checklist for a client overseas

> Checklist for taking instructions from a client who is overseas: how identity was seen, how the authority comes back, and that an apostille is not an identity check.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/overseas-client-identity-and-authority  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-23

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

- Kind: Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Practice area: [Personal Injury & Compensation](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation.md)
- Jurisdictions: Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales
- AI level: Yellow. You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-23
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-23 against the 3 authorities it cites, for Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.

## When to use it

Use when the injured person is outside Australia and the firm needs an authority to act or to collect records. Do not use it as a statutory identity points test. No such test was opened.

## Used for these tasks

- [Record how instructions are taken from a client who is overseas](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/record-how-instructions-are-taken-from-a-client-who-is-overseas.md)
- [Check the authority of a person enquiring for someone else](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-the-authority-of-a-person-enquiring-for-someone-else.md)

## How AI may be used

The tool may record the video, the document the client showed, and the path the signed authority will take, and it must not invent a points test or require an apostille.

**AI may:**

- Record the date, the time zone and the platform of the conference
- Describe the identity document the client held up, without storing the number unless the firm's own process says to
- Say how the signed authority will be returned

**AI must not:**

- Must not treat an apostille as proof of identity or as a requirement for this authority
- Must not apply a 100-point check or a conveyancing verification-of-identity standard. None was opened
- Must not let a relative overseas sign for the client unless a document the lawyer has seen gives that power
- Must not skip the limitation and notice letter because the client is overseas

**The lawyer checks:**

- The face on the video matched the document, so far as the lawyer could see, and the limits of a video are noted
- The authority that comes back is signed by the client, or the checklist says it has not yet come back
- An interpreter is booked if the client needs one. A family member interpreting from overseas is not the default
- Capacity is considered if there is a reason to ask. Time zone and illness are noted. They are not a finding
- Any copy of a passport or identity document stays in the firm's system under APP 11 and conduct rule 9

## Authorities

- [Attorney-General's Department, Apostilles: an apostille authenticates the origin of a public document for Hague Convention countries. DFAT legalises Australian public documents. A foreign public document is apostilled by the country that issued it](https://www.ag.gov.au/international-relations/private-international-law/apostilles)
- [QLS Proctor, January 2022, Working with interpreters: a client overseas may still need a booked interpreter, by telephone if that is the mode the lawyer chooses](https://www.qlsproctor.com.au/2022/01/working-with-interpreters/)
- [Law Society of New South Wales capacity guide: if capacity is in doubt, the same decision-specific enquiry applies. Being overseas is not itself a finding about capacity](https://www.lawsociety.com.au/sites/default/files/2018-03/Clients%20mental%20capacity.pdf)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/overseas-client-identity-and-authority and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*