The scientific article examines the involvement of notaries in matters of legal protection of the rights of the surviving spouse. Special attention is given to the notarial document as a means of protecting these rights. The author provides definitions of the terms “spouses,” “surviving spouse,” and “notarial document.” It is concluded that the main notarial actions aimed at protecting the rights of the surviving spouse are the certification of transactions and the certification of indisputable rights of the surviving spouse, the result of which are notarial documents (notarial acts). In order to provide legal clarity, measures for improving the current legislation are proposed.