Notary No-Nos Part 5
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 fifth in a series of articles designed to remind notaries of common mistakes and how to avoid them.
Don’t fill out a document for the signer. Notaries cannot assist a signer with filling out a document or provide advice on which document to use. This constitutes the unauthorized practice of law.
Don’t fail to update information. If a notary ‘s name, county of residence or contact information changes, the notary must notify the State immediately. If the change requires changes to the information on the notary stamp, then a notary must obtain a new stamp. If a notary’s commission gets revoked because the State could not reach the notary, any notarial acts performed with an invalid commission are void and the notary could be subject to disciplinary action.
Don’t fail to verify the signer’s identity. One of the key roles of a notary is to verify the identity of a signer. A notary should not accept the word of other parties to the document, an employer or the signer. A notary should ask for a government issued photo ID from the signer, prior to notarizing the signature. Failure to do so could leave the door open to fraud.
Careless mistakes can result in serious consequences. If you missed the prior articles on this topic, please search for other articles in this series for information on avoiding additional common pitfalls.