You searched for document - Notary Blog - Signing Tips, Marketing Tips, General Notary Advice - 123notary.com
123Notary

Notary Blog – Signing Tips, Marketing Tips, General Notary Advice – 123notary.com Control Panel

October 4, 2024

Rules for Notarizing Documents for Bedridden Persons

Filed under: (2) Technical and Legal — Tags: — Tom Wilkins @ 4:38 pm

Notarizing important documents when individuals are bedridden can present unique challenges. Mobile notaries must be familiar with the legal requirements and rules for notarizing documents for bedridden persons to ensure the process is smooth and compliant. This guide will outline key regulations to provide a stress-free, legally valid notarization experience.

Understanding the Situation

Before starting the notarization process, mobile notaries must assess the bedridden individual’s condition. Bedridden signers may have difficulties with mobility, communication, or even physical signing, requiring the notary to approach the situation with sensitivity while adhering to legal standards.

Rule 1: Verify the Individual’s Identity

  1. Importance of Proper Identification

Verifying the signer’s identity is essential. Bedridden individuals must provide valid government-issued photo identification, like a driver’s license or passport. If such identification is unavailable, alternative verification methods like credible witnesses can be used.

  1. Using Credible Witnesses

Credible witnesses are an alternative if bedridden individuals lack current identification. Most states allow two witnesses who know the signer but are uninvolved in the transaction to verify identity. This rule is beneficial for bedridden individuals who may not have updated IDs.

Rule 2: Confirm the Signer’s Willingness and Awareness

  1. Ensuring Mental Competence

The notary must confirm that the bedridden individual is fully aware of the document they are signing and is willing to do so. It’s crucial to ask questions to verify the signer understands the document’s nature and isn’t under pressure.

  1. Avoiding Coercion

Notaries should be alert for signs of coercion and halt the process if the bedridden person seems pressured to sign. Ensuring the signer is free from external influence is a key responsibility of the notary.

Rule 3: Accommodating Physical Limitations

  1. Signature by Mark or Direction

Bedridden individuals who cannot physically sign can use a “signature by mark,” such as an X, or direct another person to sign for them. The notary must witness this, and the process should be documented according to state regulations.

  1. Use of Assistive Devices

If bedridden individuals use assistive devices to sign, the notary must confirm they are doing so independently. Witnessing this act is necessary to ensure the validity of the notarization.

Rule 4: Comply with State Laws on Remote and In-Person Notarizations

  1. Remote Online Notarization (RON)

Some states allow Remote Online Notarization (RON), which lets notaries conduct video notifications. This can be an accessible option for bedridden individuals, but mobile notaries must ensure they follow local laws regarding RON.

  1. In-Person Notarization Requirements

In states that require in-person notarization, notaries must travel to the bedridden individual’s location. Mobile notaries should be prepared for this, ensuring all necessary supplies are available for an on-site notarization.

Adhering to Proper Notarization Procedures

Notarizing documents for bedridden individuals involves extra care, but following the legal requirements and rules for notarizing documents for bedridden persons ensures a smooth, valid process. Notaries must verify identity, confirm awareness, accommodate physical limitations, and comply with state laws. For business owners and homeowners, staying organized and keeping track of business expenses ensures smoother transactions.

Share
>

September 6, 2024

How to Notarize Documents Lacking Signature Lines

Filed under: (2) Technical and Legal — Tags: — Tom Wilkins @ 7:24 pm

In legal documents, a clear signature line is often essential. However, there are times when you might encounter a document that lacks this crucial element. As a homeowner or business owner, knowing how to notarize documents without a signature line for validity is key to ensuring your agreements remain legally binding and recognized. This guide will walk you through the necessary steps to confidently handle these situations.

Understanding the Role of Signature Lines

Signature lines are the designated area for parties to indicate their agreement and consent. In legal documents, this is critical for establishing authenticity. However, certain documents—especially informal agreements or older forms—may lack a pre-printed signature line. When this happens, it is important to know how to notarize the document properly to maintain its validity.

Steps to Notarize Documents Without a Signature Line

1. Review the Document Carefully

Before notarizing, thoroughly review the document. Look for any area that might logically serve as a place for a signature, even if it’s not explicitly marked. Pay attention to the content to ensure no missing elements could impact its validity.

2. Choose the Appropriate Signature Placement

When a document lacks a signature line, consult with the signer to determine the most appropriate place for their signature. Typically, this should be at the end of the document, near the concluding statements, or immediately after the final paragraph. The key is placing the signature where it logically fits the document’s content and intent.

3. Attach a Notarial Certificate

Add a notarial certificate to the document to ensure the notarization’s validity. This certificate will identify the document, the date of notarization, and the parties involved. It should also confirm that the signer appeared before you and acknowledged the document’s contents. A notarial certificate is essential for validating a notarized document without a pre-existing signature line.

Types of Notarial CertificatesAcknowledgment Certificate

An acknowledgment certificate is commonly used when the signer acknowledges they signed the document willingly. In the absence of a signature line, this certificate is especially useful. It confirms that the signer appeared before the notary and affirmed the signature on the document is their own.

Jurat Certificate

A jurat certificate is typically used when the signer swears to or affirms the truthfulness of the document’s contents under oath. When notarizing a document without a signature line, you can attach a jurat to confirm the signer personally appeared before you and signed the document in your presence. This is often required for affidavits or sworn statements.

Adhering to State Notary Laws

Laws regarding notarization can differ from state to state, so it’s crucial to comply with your local regulations. Some states may have specific requirements for notarizing documents without signature lines, such as mandatory wording or special notarial certificates. Check your state’s notary laws to avoid any potential legal complications.

Clear Communication with the Signer

Clear communication is vital when dealing with documents that lack signature lines. Explain the process to the signer, including where they should sign and the role of the notarial certificate. This builds trust and ensures the signer understands how the notarization process works for their document.

Ensuring Validity in Unconventional Situations

Notarizing documents without a signature line may seem challenging, but following the correct steps ensures their legal validity. By understanding how to notarize documents without a signature line for validity, you can provide accurate, reliable services to homeowners and business owners. Always stay informed about state laws, use the appropriate notarial certificates, and communicate clearly with your clients to ensure smooth transactions. With the right approach, you’ll maintain high-quality service while handling any notarization challenge. To further grow your business, explore strategies to create more demand for my notary business.

Share
>

November 6, 2020

Notarizing Multi-Page Documents

Filed under: Technical & Legal — Tags: , — admin @ 9:35 am

Should a Notary notarize every page of a document? How can a Notary or signer safeguard themselves from someone swapping pages in a document after the notarization has taken place? You need answers! Here they are!

1. A Notary Public notarizes signatures on documents, not pages on documents. A particular page or pages might have notary certificates within a document. Or, a certificate could be stapled to the back of a document. Ideally that certificate should identify the corresponding document. If you have a ten page document, there will most likely only be one, and possibly two pages with notary wording.

2. A prudent Notary Public carries what is called an inkless embosser that leaves a raised seal impression. This is in ADDITION to having the legally required inked seal that is used with blank ink. The embosser can be used to emboss every single page in a notarized document. I did exactly that on everything I notarized even if there were 100 pages. I did this for safety reasons. I did not want people to get away with switching pages after the fact and dragging me into court as a result of someone else not liking the idea that a page was swapped.

3. If a signer swaps a page from a notarized document, and that page was embossed, they can still swap the page. However, it will not be legal, and it will be very obvious to the Notary Public if investigated that the new page was not part of the original notarization as the notary embosses all pages — if the notary indeed was the type of notary who embossed all pages — like me!

4. Some people initial all pages. Initialing is a type of precaution. But, initials can be forged easily, and it is sometimes not easy to tell if they were forged.

5. If a document had a page swapped, the staple and staple area in the pages might show evidence of tampering. The degree of evidence depends on how skillful the fraud was at swapping pages. Luckly in my career of 6000 Notary appointments I did not have this issue.

6. If you need to add a page to an already notarized document. What can you do? You have to notarize the entire document all over again. I had that happen. What a pain. The signer wasn’t happy. Sorry — just following the law!

.

You might also like:

Notarizing Multi-Page Documents 2011 edition
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=1706

Sending loose certificates is illegal
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=2470

Penalties for misconduct, fraud and failure of duty
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21315

How often do Notaries end up in court?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19914

Share
>

October 30, 2020

I dropped the documents!

Filed under: Business Tips — admin @ 10:14 pm

Anybody who is a loan signing Notary knows that they need to drop documents. We have written articles on this topic before, but it is a loaded topic.

You can claim that you dropped the documents. But, some Notaries are liars, and how can title know that you aren’t? Should they just take your word for it?

If you drop documents in a drop box, there is a small chance that it will get picked up late, or not at all. The courier assigned to pick up from that box might quit and a new person might take the job not knowing that they are to pick up from that box. People do screw up in real life. Your package could be sitting in that drop box for a week while FedEx figures it out although that is rare. But, it happened to me once! Once contents of a drop box got stolen according to a story from one of our Notaries. I only heard of that once. There is a 1 in 1000 chance that your drop box might not get picked up. If you do a lot of signings, that could cost you a client or get you in big trouble. Additionally there is no proof that you dropped it in a particular box and you might not even remember what box you dropped it in.

If you drop at a manned station, that is a better idea. The box in their office will always get picked up, and often at a slightly later time than the drop boxes on the road.

I highly recommend you get paperwork from FedEx stating that you dropped the package at a particular time and place. You might need that evidence if you get in trouble.

The bottom line is be prepared, think ahead, and have as much evidence for what you did correctly. It is just like keeping your journal correctly. It is rare that your journal will be checked, but when it happens (roughly 1 in 2000 jobs gets checked, so it will happen eventually to you.) you need to be prepared or you get in a lot of trouble. You could even get arrested.

Share
>

October 29, 2020

What documents can I notarize?

Filed under: Other Guest Bloggers — admin @ 8:52 am

What documents should I NOT notarize? (better idea for a title)

This is written about frequently but it does require repetition given the penalties associated with it and the # of requests received for unauthorized notarizations.

WILLS – Unless prepared or directed by an attorney, wills are generally witnessed by two disinterested independent third parties.

VITAL DOCUMENTS – Birth and Death Certificates and Marriage Certificates. The Secretary of State has specific laws preventing public Notaries from notarizing vital documents primarily because the Notary cannot verify the validity or authenticity of such a document. In cases such as this, the Notary needs to refer the client over to the agency who issued the document which in many cases is the County Recorder.

INCOMPLETE DOCUMENTS – A notary should not complete any documents that are fully completed at the time of notarization.

DOCUMENTS WHERE NOTARY IS AWARE THERE IS FALSE INFORMATION IN THE DOCUMENT – If you overhear conversation between people talking about the false information contained in the document they are signing, don’t notarize it. If you suspect that the person signing appears to be overly nervous or if it looks like someone else with a beneficial interest is forcing the person to sign the document, don’t notarize it. Always remember that the signer must sign the document willingly and present proper identification and must be able to communicate with the notary.

PERSON SIGNING CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE IN WHICH THE NOTARY IS SPEAKING. You cannot use an interpreter because you don’t know what is being translated and if the translator has an interest in the transaction. Do not confuse this with notarizing a document in a Foreign Language. You can always notarize a foreign language document and don’t need to speak that language as long as the person signing can communicate with you in English or another common language in which both the notary and the signer can communicate.

Share
>

April 3, 2020

Can you Notarize a document that contains the following pre-printed language?

Filed under: Other Guest Bloggers — admin @ 8:51 am

Notary: Please complete the following. No other acknowledgement is acceptable (see instructions).
The person who signed is known to or was identified by me, and, before me, signed or acknowledged to have signed this form. In witness thereof, I have signed below on this _________ day of ___________, ______________.

My commission expires:________________Notary Public Signature: ______________

While this appears tricky and may leave you second guessing, the short answer is YES.
You can notarize the document even though it does not comply with the exact or substantially similar notary language for 2 reasons.

1. The document is not asking you notarize the capacity or title in which the signer is signing the document.
2. The document is not being filed in California.

This is true for all out of state documents that have preprinted notarial language on it that requires an acknowledgment. If the notarized document is being filed or recorded in California, you MUST complete the California All-Purpose Acknowledgment.

Share
>

March 29, 2020

Two notarizations same document..yes or no?

Filed under: Carmen Towles — admin @ 8:45 am

As I often do, I read the notary discussion boards. It’s often entertainenlightening and full of situations that we are faced with to deal with almost on a daily basis. Most of them you share personally with me but this was a new one. A few days ago, the topic was about a notary that had a document that had one signature but two notarizations on the same page; One, was an Acknowledgement and the other a Jurat. The notary choose to notarize only one (don’t know which one they choose and they shouldn’t have done this but that is another issue) and the underwriter rejected it and sent it back for completion of the other notarial certificate. It seems that they wanted BOTH the acknowledgement and the jurat completed. The notary said NO and stated that it was one signature per notarial certificate. And since they had only signed once she refused to notarize both. And, although it sounded about right because most of us feel that it is one signature per notarization. After all, that is how we charge clients. In this case the certificates are different. One requires a sworn oath to be given and the other is just an acknowledgment on the part of the signer. I still wondered about this. Where is written in anybodies handbook that states that you can’t do one signature and have two different type of notarial certificates?

In my opinion, It seems that the lender and/or title was covering there rear end. Perhaps they couldn’t choose so they just decided to put both.The problem would have been easy if they had the signer sign one for each certificate. What ever the case its a decision that you have to make. It seems the notaries are split on this. I personally have seen this a couple times and I just notarize both. And enter into my journal.The question is what would you do?

Share
>

January 15, 2020

Your experience matters, but you need to document it clearly

Filed under: Advertising — admin @ 9:29 am

Notaries brag all day long about how experienced they are. Nobody wants to hear your bragging. These same Notaries who verbally boost themselves up are the same Notaries who don’t always login to their listing to document their experience.

Remember – when you tell a caller how experienced you are, only one person hears you; When you indicate in your listing how many loans you have signed (in the # of loans signed box please) and indicate in your notes what types of loans and documents you’ve signed, thousands can read that information and hence hear you.

I have found that many Notaries, particularly the free listings do not login to their listing much. I remove many who don’t login and we hear from them years after the fact. When I put them back online, they rarely update their # of loans signed. Often when I confirm the information with them I inform them that their profile states they signed 50 loans. I get this loud reaction such as, “Oh, no it’s WAYYYYY more than that.” My attitude is – don’t tell me, tell your listing. Thousands read it, so why not maintain it?

A well maintained listing gets over 1000 views per year.

Many notaries are vague about the type of experience they have and spend more time discussing their Real Estate or teaching career in their notes section. Be specific about what types of loans you know how to sign. Go through them one by one. Discuss your professional background clearly too. Don’t just say that you were in the mortgage industry. Tell us what role you played in that industry. Specifics sell.

SUMMARY
When you brag to a caller – one person hears your information; When you fill in your # of loans signed & notes – 1000 people hear your information;

It takes a minute to fill in your # of loans signed and you should update that several times per year. Many people let it slide for many years. If 123notary feels that your # of loans signed indicates that you are doing almost nothing, not maintaining your listing, or making outrageous claims of having signed more loans that humanly possible – we notice. Try to just publish helpful and truthful information and keep it updated. Thanks!

Share
>

October 30, 2019

If you notarize a document, does that make it “legal”?

Filed under: Technical & Legal — admin @ 11:50 pm

If you notarize a document, does that make the document in question legal or official?

As far as I know in my layperson opinion, if a document will be used in a legal transaction or in court, it might be said to be a legal document.

Notarizing a will, or other document just makes it notarized. Being notarized it might be acceptable to a particular document custodian or might be more relevant in court. Deeds and Power of Attorney document by definition need to be notarized to be effective or be recorded.

Oh yes, and if a document hits its 18th birthday, then it is definitely legal and the document custodian should alert Quagmire from Family Guy of the event too, particularly if the document is female.

Share
>

October 29, 2019

Was the document lost by Pack N Ship or by Fedex?

Filed under: General Articles — admin @ 11:49 pm

Back in 2012, a package was lost. A notary delivered it to a Pack N Ship place. Personally, I had a box of checks missing from a mail box place. I went straight to the police who couldn’t help. Perhaps they got thrown out. Not sure.

But, I digress. So, the Notary could not figure out whose fault it was — was it Pack N Ship or Fedex who lost the package. Hmmm. If there was Fedex paperwork for the package then there would be more to go on. Tracking numbers can tell a story of how far the package went in many cases.

So, the poor Notary had to go to his 100 year old signer all over again and sign again. What a pain. I bet that took forever.

Share
>
Older Posts »