Steps to a Proper Notarization

In 1985, a landmark decision by the Texas Court of Appeals highlighted a critical lesson about the limits of a notary’s authority. The case, Garza v. Serrato, involved a Texas notary public who unknowingly stepped beyond her jurisdiction, sparking a chain of events that ultimately overturned a multi-million-dollar verdict.

The role of a notary public, while often viewed as merely procedural, comes with significant legal responsibilities. Notaries act as impartial witnesses to the signing of documents, and by so doing, they help to deter fraud and ensure that signatories are entering into agreements knowingly and willingly. However, despite the seemingly straightforward nature of notarial duties, there are pitfalls that, if not carefully avoided, can lead to serious legal consequences including allegations of fraud and malpractice. This article explores some of the most serious mistakes notaries make.

Identifying signers is a crucial component of every notarization. The identification process ensures that signers are indeed who they claim to be. But what happens when the signer cannot provide an identification document such as a driver’s license or a passport? In such cases, a credible witness can step in to support the identification process. This alternative approach ensures that notarization remains accessible and secure for all individuals, even in unique circumstances.

As a notary, you may be asked to notarize a document for a person who cannot read it due to a language barrier. For example, an individual may want you to notarize a document written in English, but the signer doesn’t understand English. There are two potential issues here: a communication barrier between you and the signer and ensuring that the signer understands the consequences of executing the document.

Notaries serve as impartial witnesses to the signing of legal documents. Their primary role is to prevent fraud by verifying the identity of the signers involved in a transaction. Because of this, notaries must ensure the notarizations they complete are free of notarial errors.

A notary or a notary public is a public officer, appointed by their state government, usually by the secretary of state, to serve the public as an impartial witness in taking acknowledgements, administering oaths and affirmations, and performing other acts authorized by law. Most states require a notary to perform notarial services as long as all legal requirements are met.

Millions of people are victims of identity theft every year, and this trend shows no sign of abating. Skilled criminals continually look for new, increasingly sophisticated ways to commit fraud. As a notary public, you are part of the first line of defense against identity theft. Your notary work is crucial to protecting yourself and the public from criminals.

A question frequently asked by both new and experienced notaries is, “Can I notarize this document?” Notaries are sometimes unsure how to proceed when presented with an unfamiliar type of document or with an unusual request from a customer. In general, any written document can be notarized if the general requirements for notarization are met, including completing a notarial certificate, inspecting identification, etc.  

Many new notaries frequently ask if they can notarize their own signatures. While this may seem convenient if a notary has a document to be notarized, the short answer is no, you cannot notarize your own signature.

Occasionally, notaries may find the letters "S.S." or "L.S." preprinted on a notarial certificate. Some notaries may be confused by this, and we have even seen notaries write the signer's Social Security Number after the letters "S.S."

Notaries are occasionally asked to "certify a copy" of a birth certificate. This misunderstanding stems from the cruise ship industry, which for years told cruisegoers that a "notarized birth certificate" was acceptable as proof of citizenship. In reality, notaries are not authorized to make certified copies of birth certificates, regardless of where the original birth certificate was issued.

The role of the notary in society is to serve the public as an impartial witness in taking acknowledgments, administering oaths and affirmations, and performing other acts authorized by law. When a notary places his or her notary stamp and signature on a document, the document recipient automatically assumes that the notary has executed his or her responsibility correctly. This means that the notary has maintained impartiality, has performed notarial duties according to state law, and has acted with the utmost integrity.

Many notaries are confused as to whether or not they can notarize documents that  they have drafted. In most cases, a notary cannot draft documents. To do so might be considered unauthorized practice of law. This does not, however, apply to notaries who are attorneys or who draft documents during the course of their employment.

The most important step in the notarization process is the performance of the notarial act itself. When notarizing a signature on a paper document, a notary is typically taking an acknowledgment or administering an oath/affirmation.

The use of a "loose notarial certificate" has become commonplace in a nation where each state has different requirements for notarial certificate wording. Since many forms don't have certificates that comply with state law, notaries frequently have to use replacements. However, many notaries often wonder what is the most secure way to handle these certificates, and how to prevent them from being misused.

If you hold a notary commission as part of your employment, you might be familiar with the awkward situation that arises when an employer, sometimes innocently, asks you to do something that would violate state law. You might ask yourself, "Do I do what my boss wants me to do, or do I follow the law?" Notaries can feel conflicted between their duty to their employers and their duty to uphold their oaths of office.

Notaries in every state are authorized to take acknowledgments, but this basic act is often misunderstood by both new and experienced notaries. An acknowledgment is a public declaration made by the signer of a particular document that he or she executed the document voluntarily as his or her free act and deed.  The acknowledgment, in a sense, solemnizes the execution of an instrument of writing. Documents usually requiring an acknowledgment include deeds, mortgages, and powers of attorney. The acknowledgment is the most common, and arguably the most important notarial act.

When executing a jurat, many notaries fail to ask signers if they prefer to swear or affirm to the truthfulness of the contents within the documents they are signing. The reason is simple: many notaries are not aware that some signers, who have religious convictions against swearing to God, may object to do so and prefer making a promise ....

An absentee or vote-by-mail ballot is a ballot cast in a United States election by mail, rather than at an official polling station. There are various reasons why a voter may choose to vote by mail rather than in person. Some states require that the voter have a good reason for requesting an absentee ballot, such as being stationed overseas in the military, or being homebound due to a disability. Other states allow any voter to use an absentee ballot. Each state also has different requirements on whether such a ballot requires notarization

Typically, when a customer requests a notary public to notarize a document, the document has not yet been signed. Thus, when a notarization occurs, the signer executes the document in the notary's presence, and the notary completes a notarial certificate. Almost always, the date of the signature is the same as the date of the notarization.

While notaries are familiar with taking acknowledgments and administering oaths, they often lack the necessary skills to handle depositions or affidavits.

Unfortunately, many families wait until tragedy strikes to get their state of affairs in order. Depending on the severity of the tragedy, it could be too late to use the services of a notary public.

Unless a notary is also a licensed attorney, he or she may not give legal advice or accept fees for legal advice. In civil-law jurisdictions, and in most common-law jurisdictions outside the United States, notaries are essentially lawyers who have extensive training in the drafting of documents. However, American common-law notaries do not have any legal authority unless they happen to also be a licensed attorney. As a result, it would be considered unauthorized practice of law for a non-attorney notary to give legal advice.

Is a notary's employer liable for the notary's mistakes? The answer is usually yes. Many state's laws do not provide any limit to the liability of a notary, and when a notary is acting in the course of his or her employment, that liability often extends to the notary's employer.

Many notaries ask whether it is acceptable to notarize a document that is handwritten by the client. In general, it is not up to the notary to decide whether a document presented for notarization is valid. Notarization does not make an illegal document legal and does not make an invalid document valid.

Many notaries are presented with a document that is already signed and aren't sure whether or not they can proceed. This question can be answered by reviewing the two basic notarial acts: acknowledgments and oaths.

Humans make mistakes. We just can't be right 100% of the time. With repetition and sound practices, however, most mistakes made can be eliminated. Here are the top mistakes notary signing agents make so you can be on the lookout.

Most notary journals contain a space for placing an impression of the signer's thumbprint, but is taking a thumbprint a good idea?

Most experienced notaries know that they should always keep a stack of acknowledgement and jurat notarial certificates on hand in case a client presents them with a document that does not include a notarial certificate. Unfortunately, not all notaries are experienced. There are a good number of notaries who have been working for a while and yet are not aware that a document cannot be notarized without a notarial certificate printed on or attached to the document.

In its simplest form, the term notario publico translates to notary public. On a deeper level, however, the difference between a notario publico and a U.S. notary public is vast, and therefore it can be problematic for notaries to use this particular terminology in the United States. While a notary public in the United States is authorized to perform specific notarial acts and practice limited discretion, a notario publico in many Latin American countries is an individual who has received the equivalent of a law license and who is authorized to represent others before the government.

I've had this question come up twice in the past couple of weeks, so I thought it would probably make for an interesting article. As notaries, we are approached to notarize documents for a number of different reasons.

According to the Hague Conference on Private International Law, An apostille is a certificate that authenticates the origin of a public document. In order for the apostille to be used, both the issuing and receiving countries must be party to the Apostille Convention. Additional information about the Apostille Convention can be found in the publication ABCs of Apostilles. In addition, the following link provides a list of countries belonging to the Apostille Convention.

I've had several appointments during which the signer was unable to physically sign his name to a document. I can see the family members are really worried about this when it happens. Many want to know if they can sign for the signer. I have to explain that unless they've been given a power of attorney by the signer, I am unable to notarize a document signed by them for the signer.

A notary should be prepared to explain to a client that notary law does not allow notaries merely to place their official notary seal and official notary signature on a document or photo in order to make it acceptable by the receiving party. A notary is almost always required to administer an oath or take an acknowledgment and complete a notarial certificate pertaining to the notarial act he or she performed.

Notaries in Arizona, Colorado, and Texas now have the option to get the notary education they need from the comfort of their own homes or offices 24/7. These courses will provide you with the skills and knowledge necessary to perform your notarial duties according to your state's notary laws and the established standards of sound notary practices.

If you spend any time reading about notary duties, you will see many statements that a notary must avoid giving legal advice. What is legal advice?

When a notary public is asked to travel to a hospital, nursing home, or rehabilitation facility, this is referred to as hospital notary work. It is a type of mobile notary work that can be very rewarding or very frustrating, depending on the circumstances.

Our readers have undoubtedly heard the legendary story about President Calvin Coolidge being sworn into the office of President of the United States of America by his father in 1923.

If you lose your notary seal, will you react like the notary public in today's example? Of course, you won't! Everything that this notary does is wrong. Today, learn from his mistakes and make note of the six critical steps that you must follow when a notarial seal is lost.

Most of us have been in this predicament--a client hands over a document and it is filled to its edges with text. You visually scan the document and see it includes a pre-printed notarial certificate that is barely the size of a business card. Even worse, you note that the area intended for your notary seal would be the perfect size, but only if you were a Notary Ken or Notary Barbie doll!

An affidavit is a sworn or affirmed statement made before a notary public or any public official who has the authority to administer oaths. It is made under penalty of perjury, and the official must administer an oath or affirmation to the signer(s), witness the signing of the document and certify it by placing his official signature and seal and completing the notarial certificate called a jurat.

If a document has a pre-printed notarial certificate, that certificate serves two purposes:

There are three primary types of notary journals. One has minimal space per entry; one has more generous space per entry but fewer entries per page; and one is designed for notary signing agents and has frequently-seen real estate documents pre-listed in it. Each of these three types can be found in paperback or hardback. Which type you choose is your decision. It is important to see a sample page of the journal before you buy it, as you will be using it for some time.

Almost no one likes to do paperwork, especially if they don't have to do it. So, if you tell them that paperwork is not required, most people will be happy to believe you and skip it. When it comes to the notary journal, skipping the paperwork is not an option. Keeping a notary journal is required for the following reasons:

The need for a trusted and impartial witness who can write down commercial and other agreements has been recognized since the time of the ancient Romans, who created the office of notarius or scribii to fulfill this need. If the parties to the agreement could not write, they used a metal or clay disk with a distinctive design or coat of arms (a private seal) pressed into melted wax in place of a signature. In the following centuries, as paper making became more widespread and written agreements became longer, the pages of a document were bound together by making holes in the margins, tying the pages together with a ribbon, and pouring wax over the ribbon's knot. If the document were to be notarized, the notary would press his official seal into the wax, thereby sealing the pages of the document together.

The most critical of the five notary-specific elements on a notarized document is the notary signature. The lack of a notary signature is fatal to the notarization. It is essential that the notary always signs every notarial certificate that he or she notarizes. By signing the notary certificate, a notary is verifying that the venue, notary commission expiration date, and the notary certificate are true and correct.

A notarial certificate indicates what actions the document's preparer wants the notary to perform. The venue states that the notarization took place in a particular location that lies within the jurisdiction of the notary public. The presence of a notary commission expiration date shows that the document was notarized at a time when the notary held authority to notarize.

A notary certificate is a statement completed by the notary specifying the details of the notarization. It must contain the date of the notarization and refer to where the notarial act took place. The most commonly used notarial certificates are jurats and acknowledgments. (There is a third form in those states that allow notaries to certify copies. Please see the articles about certifying copies for information on that form.)

With a few exceptions, notarized documents contain five notary-specific elements: venue, the notary certificate, commission expiration date, notary signature, and notary seal. This article covers the venue.

As stated in a previous article, sworn statements and acknowledged statements are the two most common types of notarized documents. The primary difference between the two types is that a sworn statement is made under penalty of perjury and requires an oath or affirmation while an acknowledged statement lacks these elements. If a document does not contain language about being duly sworn or upon oath, and if it has a notary certificate that does not mention an oath or affirmation or being sworn, then you are dealing with an acknowledged statement.

Once you have confirmed the identity of the person seeking your notary services and verified that they are prepared to sign freely and willingly, the next duty of a notary public is to determine what type of document they have presented to you. The two most common types of notarized documents are sworn statements and acknowledged statements. Sworn statements are often (but not always) called affidavits.

A notary public is an official witness to someone signing a document freely and willingly. "Freely and willingly" is one of those phrases that people use without really considering the meaning. This expression has been in use for so long that everyone thinks they know what it covers, but most people do not actually know.

The most important duty of a notary public is to verify the identity of the person signing the document. How this is done will depend upon the law in the notary's jurisdiction, so please check the following general principles against your state's laws and rules.

It should go without saying that the signer has to personally appear before the notary public. Unfortunately, people will test this bedrock principle, either out of ignorance or arrogance.

On occasion, a notary public may receive a request from the public for a copy or certified copy of one or more notarial acts that the notary previously performed and recorded in his or her notary's journal (also called a record book, register, or log). For example, a family member is questioning a will that was notarized two years prior, so another family member requests a copy of the recorded notarial act to verify the reliability of the will.

Many states allow notaries to make certified copies of documents as long as the original document is not a publicly recorded document. Documents that clients may ask to have certified by a notary include contracts, letters, settlement statements, agreements, and bills of sale. This list is certainly not all inclusive.

The two most common notarial certificates used by notaries public are jurats and acknowledgments. They are not handled the same and this confuses many notaries public. Please note the differences explained below.

Perhaps a father needs to have a statement notarized that authorizes his child to go on a trip with a friend's family. He might decide to handwrite it. The same could be true for a building tenant who needs to provide a letter to a housing authority verifying household income. Or, perhaps a separated couple facing an income tax issue may need to quickly submit a notarized declaration that they have lived apart for several months.

Wills are highly sensitive probate documents that determine how a person's assets will be distributed after his or her death. The person making the will is called a "testator" if male and a "testatrix" if female.

Most notarizations a notary will perform involve signers who are competent, understand the content in the document, and have the ability to sign freely and willingly. In rare situations you may receive a request to perform a notarization from a client who is blind or illiterate. How will you proceed? Will you refuse to perform the notarization simply because the signer is unable to read? Is it enough to ask those signers for proper identification and acknowledge they understand the contents of the document and proceed with the notarial act? What protections will you offer vulnerable signers to ensure a smooth and honest transaction?

Many notaries across the nation receive requests from an employer to notarize or verify Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9) forms. The completion of an I-9 Form for each employee is mandated for every employer or agricultural recruiter/referrer-for-a-fee hirer. (An agricultural referrer is any farm labor contractor or agricultural employer or association.) All such employers and recruiters are subject to periodic ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) inspections to assure that accurately completed I-9 forms are on file for every employee; violators are subject to fines and administrative sanctions. Thus the proper completion and execution of the I-9 form is of extreme importance.

Notaries must be impartial witnesses to transactions. They may not have an interest in the documents that they notarize. By the same token, notaries are prohibited from notarizing their own signatures, or documents in which they are named.

There are times, as a notary, when you will be presented with a document for notarization that has been previously signed. This may occur simply because the signer thinks he is being thorough by filling in all the blanks and signing before he meets with you. At other times, a document may have been signed and submitted to the recipient before the signer was aware that notarization was required and now the document has been returned and the signer requires the services of a notary.

Most notaries acquire a notary commission as an additional credential. Very often, offering notarial services is not the notary's only, or primary, occupation. Many individuals become notaries at the request of their employers, while others wish to offer services to their local communities and neighborhoods.

The most basic task of the notary public, which underlies all other processes and procedures, is to identify properly the signer of a document.

One of the keys to acceptable and accurate notarizations is clear communication between the signer and the notary.

The role of the notary public in society is of vital importance. When a notary places his or her stamp and signature on a document, the document recipient or the receiving institution automatically assumes that the notary has executed his or her responsibility correctly. This means that the notary has maintained impartiality, has performed notarial duties according to state law, and has acted with the utmost integrity.

One of the most important steps in the notarization of any document is the placing of the notary stamp seal. This step, along with the notary's signature, is the culmination of all the preliminary steps in notarizing, such as identity checking, document scanning, and making record book entries. The notary stamp contains all the identifying information of the notary public - name, commission state and county, notary commission number, and commission expiration date. It is essential and mandatory that all of this information be placed neatly and legibly on every document that the notary executes.

State laws vary on the acceptability and procedures for copy certifications. As with every other type of notarial procedure, notaries should study carefully their state's statutes on copy certification to see if, and how, it is administered.

A notary public should comply with every reasonable request when called upon to notarize a document. However, there are times when a request may not only be unreasonable, but may actually be unlawful.

Every document that a notary will ever notarize must contain a notary certificate. The notary certificate is the portion of the document to be notarized that contains the notary language or notary verbiage. It is this wording that indicates to the notary the type of notarization which he or she must perform - most often, this will be either an acknowledgment or a jurat.

Once you have received your notary commission from the state, you are ready to embark on your new career as a notary public.

Using a self-inking notary stamp is the easiest way to inscribe the notary commission information on a document to be notarized; it is quick, easy, and neat.

While the self-inking or pre-inked notary stamp is the convenient tool of choice for all notaries when notarizing documents, there are times when a notary may wish to add extra enhancement to the executed document.

As a notary, you are not just a public servant, but you are also a professional and, as such, will want to take pride in your work. There are times when you may wish to give an added flair or enhancement to the document you are notarizing.

The notary is a public officer and, as such, is required to comply with any reasonable request for notarization. Whether you are a notary with your own notary signing service or an employee notary, it is a good idea to keep essential notary supplies with you at all times so that you may be ready to adequately and efficiently serve the public upon request.

An employee notary is a notary who obtained a commission at the request of his or her employer. Perhaps your company transacts with clients, such as banks or insurance companies, that must have documents notarized on a regular basis.

Notaries are responsible for safeguarding their notary supplies against fraudulent use. These items include the notary's original certificate or commission, the notary stamp and seal, and the notary record book of notarial acts.

Notaries should follow proper procedures to minimize any risk of liability for an improper notarial act and reduce opportunities for fraud. With every notarization, the notary should use precise measures to:

Never act in a notary capacity if you have any involvement whatsoever in the transaction taking place. If you are named in the document, or if a family member or close affiliate is named, refuse to notarize. You must be a completely unbiased witness to the execution, and you are not unbiased, if for example, your spouse, your sister, or your boyfriend stands to gain financially or emotionally from the transaction taking place.