Do a Half Fast Embossing
I hope you did not read the title quickly. I accidently included the word “Fast” in my title, sorry. My suggestion is actually to do a half embossing. Sounds odd? What did you expect from me? Let me attempt to redeem what little remains of my reputation.
Ever notice some packages include an extra acknowledgement or perhaps a few. It’s probably not that they are planning something nefarious, just planning some illegal flexibility. They want to have those completed notarizations (on a separate sheet of paper) so they can be used on a document that they forgot to include. Or, equally likely, on a document that has to be redrawn, without the need for the “inconvenience” of an additional notary visit to their client.
Sometimes the provided acknowledgement form provides an area for filling in exactly what signature is being notarized. That is not a failsafe protection for the notary. The proceeding document can be swapped and resigned; with the “what this ack applies to” information being the same – just a part of a page in the middle of the mortgage needed to be changed. Thus, your acknowledgement is now following a signature you did not witness even though your carefully filled in description precisely matches the numbers on the replaced mortgage.
When the notary section is on a separate page it can be a challenge to definitively associate your notarization with the actual and specific signature being notarized. Some have used the time honored methodology of embossing the signature page of the document and the following ack at the same time. Generally this works poorly as most embossers are designed for a single page of about twenty pound stock paper. But, playing devil’s advocate (a familiar role for me) let’s assume you have been to the gym often and give that embosser a mighty squeeze. OK, now there is a clear impression on both pages. Problem solved? I think not.
When the newly signed mortgage is followed by your embossed ack it looks routinely normal. It’s not “usual” for the signature page to be embossed if it does not include a notary section. Nothing was gained by adding an embossing to the mortgage signature page. Nada. So, now that I have dwelled on the problem, let me offer a solution that works for me.
What follows is “a solution” not necessarily the best solution to mating a following ack page to the prior signed page. It’s simple, do a half embossing. First do the routine job, with your regular embossing on the notary page. Subsequently lay the mortgage signature page to the left and your notarization page to the right; both side by side flat on the table. Then emboss such that half of your seal is on the mortgage page and half on the ack page. Yes, the ack page already has both your stamp and embossing. Now you will be adding half of your embosser to each page.
Now, unless your acknowledgement is held alongside the prior page it will look quite odd, where is the other half? It already has your complete seal, why only half at the bottom? I’m not a lawyer but someday I might be a witness. If asked did you notarize this signature and the notary part has half my embosser and the mortgage does not have the other half…. Let’s face it; we get peanuts for our exposure to litigation. Anything we can do to strengthen our “shields” for the day when we are called to testify and defend our actions – is worth a small bit of extra effort.
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Do you take control at a signing?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21104
Would you accept a signing without a confirmation?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=22588
