Notary No-Nos Part 2
Serving as one of the approximately 4.4 million notaries nationwide requires individuals to discharge important responsibilities that are critical to avoid rejected documents, or worse yet, disciplinary action against the notary. This is the second in a series of articles designed to remind notaries of common mistakes and how to avoid them.
Don’t leave blanks in documents. A notary is responsible for making sure that their notary certificate is filled out completely, with all blank spaces completed. Further, a notary should check the document that they are notarizing to look for any blanks in the document. Blanks in a document can lead to fraud. Of course, if the parties agree that certain items should be left blank, then the notary can proceed to notarize the document.
Don’t notarize for an unwilling signer. One of the duties of a notary is to make sure that the person signing a document is not signing under duress. Notaries should simply ask the signer if they are signing voluntarily in order to assure consent. Of course, a notary cannot ignore red flags that may point to an unwilling signer, and a notary should decline to notarize a document in these situations.
Don’t notarize if you can’t communicate with the signer. As a corollary to making sure that a signer is signing willingly, a notary must ensure that the signer understands what they are signing. If the signer is not present, does not speak the same language as the notary, or is incapable of communicating with the notary, the notary should decline to notarize the document.
Careless mistakes can result in serious consequences. Watch for future articles on this topic for information on avoiding additional common pitfalls.