Notary Certificates, Notary Verbiage & Notary Wording
Notary terminology is sometimes confusing, so there are a few things to remember. There are different types of common notarizations. Acknowledgments and Jurats require certificate wording (notary wording), and Oaths and Affirmations could be purely verbal. A Jurat requires that an Oath or Affirmation accompany the signing and certificate wording (notary wording, notary verbiage). An Acknowledgment is purely paperwork in most cases, however, I have seen even an Acknowledged signature have an accompanying Oath. 80% of notarizations are Acknowledged signatures, while roughly 19% are Jurats, and the remaining 1% would be a mixture of other types of less common notary acts.
Acknowledged Signatures
The 2011 & 2012 notary certificate for an acknowledged signature includes a venue (documentation of county & state), the name of the notary, the name of the signer, the fact that the signer appeared before the notary and acknowledged signing a particular document. The current notary verbiage on this form should include the date of the signing, and the signature and official seal of the notary as well. The actual notary verbiage differs from state to state. California notary verbiage is a bit different than Ohio notary verbiage. Also, Ohio has different types of acknowledgments such as corporate acknowledgments and an attorney in fact acknowledgment. You should ideally research your state’s notary verbiage to see what it is. If you visit our find a notary page, there are links to states, and on the state pages, you can find a lot of information about acknowledgments and jurats in those states. We have detailed information for Florida, Illinois, Michigan, California, Arizona, Ohio, and a few other states as well.
Jurat Signatures
The notary certificate for a jurat signature / oath has changed in many states. It is/was normal to have a venue, and then say, “Subscribed and sworn to before me (name of notary) by (name of signer) on (date).” Then there would be a signature of the notary, and a place for the official notary seal. Jurat verbiage also can differ from state to state so please look it up on google.
Certificate forms.
Notary certificates can be notary wording / notary verbiage that is embedded on the last page of a document, or sometimes within a document if there are intermediary signatures. If the notarial wording is NOT included, you must add a loose certificate and attach it to the document (by stapling).
Filling out the forms.
Many notaries don’t understand how to fill out notary wording on certificate forms. Let’s say a guy named Paul Solomon is the signer. If the form says,
(note: this is not real Florida notary wording — I am making it up for educational purposes)
In real life, the Florida notary certificate is much simpler than this, but in other states there are cross outs that the notary needs to make.
State of Florida
County of Brevard
On 8-11-2010 before me John Doe, notary public, the foregoing document was acknowledged before me by Paul Solomon, who acknowledges signing the document in his/her/their capacity(ies).
(notary seal)
In this example, it is the notary’s job to cross out the “her” and “their”, and the “ies” in capacities. More than half of notarizations that I have seen were done by notaries who omitted to do the cross-outs.
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Notary Verbiage & Notary Wording
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Can a notary notarize a birth certificate?
Can a notary notarize a copy of a birth certificate?
Notaries are advised to stay away from notarizing copies of vital records including birth certificates, marriage certificates, and death certificates. The state and/or county clerks are in charge of vital records. Just politely decline when asked to notarize a signature on a birth certificate. These types of vital records must be certified by the county clerk in the corresponding county.
No place to sign!
Additionally, there is no place for a signer to sign on a birth certificate, so how can you notarize a document without a signature? Conceivably, you could draw up an Affidavit that claims that the copy is a true and complete copy of the original birth certificate. The signer could sign that affidavit, and you could notarize the signature on the affidavit and give them a quick oath. But, this is not legal in many states in conjunction with a birth certificate.
What should a notary do?
As a notary, you should know the name of the document that is to be notarized BEFORE you get in your car. Imagine driving 45 minutes in traffic only to find out that you are going to be asked to notarize a birth certificate. Have fun getting your travel fee in that case when you tell the client, “no can do”.
Fetal Death Certificates?
I never knew this existed until I read someone’s reply to a forum post about notarizing (or not notarizing) birth certificates. I never knew there was such thing as a fetal death certificate. How can you give a certificate to someone who has not yet been named? Do souls have an SKU number? Was the fetus mature enough to have been infused with a soul yet? When you study spirituality, you start asking questions like this! On a brighter note, the fetus will be reincarnated, and won’t suffer much according to a colleague who specializes in past life regression!
Refer them to an Attorney
When asked to do questionable or illegal acts, just refer your client to an Attorney so that they can get a professional answer.
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Can I notarize a birth certificate – forum discussion http://www.123notary.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3924
How to get something notarized that doesn’t have a signature
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=4695
The chicken & egg: Birth Certificate problem solved
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=3474