If you are checking into international adoptions you'll eventually run into this term. When I looked it up in the dictionary I couldn't find it. An apostille is an internationally approved way of certifying notarized documents at the state level.
Each state has their own way of doing it and charge fees from $20 to nothing each. I was dumbfounded that my home state, Missouri, was charging $10 each for a process that took just minutes. Our first batch of documents cost $270 for less than thirty minutes work. I wrote the Secretary of State, my local representatives, and the governor about this outrageous fee. I thought it was unfair to charge so much for the little time that it took. I said that at the rate they charged I could have hired a dream-team lawyer.
My letter got results! The Secretary of State office immediately assigned their legal counsel to look for ways to reduce these fees and my State Senator promised to introduce legislation to cap the fees for adoption purposes if the SoS office didn't lower the fees. It hasn't been done yet, though. So, we need to keep up the pressure.
If you're from other states, you can find out on this site how much yours charges and what rules they have. You may be able to save hundreds of dollars by traveling over the state line to your neighboring state to sign some documents.
Please write to your state officials to reduce these fees. I'll show you how.