Notary No-Nos Part 1
Most people associate a notary public with someone working in a law office or a bank. However, many businesses ask that their administrative employees maintain a notary public commission with the State as a convenient way to make sure the business has qualified individuals available to witness the signing of commercial documents. In fact, according to the National Notary Association, there are approximately 4.4 million notaries nationwide.
Serving as a notary public requires individuals to fulfill certain requirements established by the State, however, once certified, notaries must discharge important responsibilities that are critical to avoid rejected documents, or worse yet, disciplinary action against the notary. This is the first in a series of articles designed to remind notaries of common mistakes and how to avoid them.
Don’t notarize for a signer without witnessing their signature or obtaining their affirmation of their signature. Occasionally, a notary may be asked by their employer or another party to a document to notarize a document when the notary did not witness the document being signed. Often, this is not done out of malice, but is a misguided attempt at making things more convenient for the notary. However, this is a major violation for a notary. As a notary, you are affirming that you witnessed the named individual sign the document. The only exception to this requirement is in the situation where the signer signed a document outside of the notary’s presence, but later affirmed, in front of the notary, that the signature on the document belongs to the signer.
Don’t date the notary certificate for any date other than the date signed. Sometimes, documents will have effective dates that occur before or after signing. However, the notary certificate on a document should always state the date the document was actually signed by the signer. The notary is making an affirmation that they witnessed the signing and that it occurred on the date in the notary certificate. Listing a date other than the signature date in the notary certificate is a breach of the rules.
Don’t notarize documents that benefit the notary. The role of a notary is to serve as an impartial witness. A notary is not impartial if the document they are notarizing concerns a transaction where the notary has a personal or financial interest. A notary is strictly prohibited from notarizing their own signature or the signature of family members. Failure to follow these rules could result in the document being declared invalid.
Careless mistakes can result in serious consequences. Watch for future articles on this topic for information on avoiding additional common pitfalls.