123Notary

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

September 18, 2016

He, She, or They?

He She or They

Jeremy and others have often mentioned the “requirement” (in quotes because the laws regarding this issue probably vary by state) to cross out the irrelevant sections in a notary section. They reason that the notary is responsible to redact entries that do not “match” the person being notarized. I disagree.

In the thousands of notary sections that have my signature and seal, over a decade of doing this; not a single one has had the redactions. Not one. And, I have never been “called to task” for not completing the section properly. There is no mention in New York State law requiring such action. The model for the Acknowledgement that I use has both “he she they” and “his her their”; and is taken directly from the handbook for NY notaries. My Jurat is even simpler: Sworn to and subscribed before me by _____.

Long before “gender identity” was a news topic I concluded that I was not the person to determine the gender of affiants. If I am not the one, who is? Well, the best answer is probably the affiant. However, some may consider a medical doctor more appropriate. It could also be a Judge. I do not see it as my function, in MY statement, to declare the gender of the affiant. Now the gender identity issue has become a hot topic in the media. To me it’s a personal issue, one for the affiant to declare or not declare as they see fit. Whatever gender identity THEY say, outside of the notary section; is fine with me.

My sharp eyed critics, and they are legion; will have noticed I included “they and their” as items that I do not redact. They are thinking “surely you should delimit the notary section to one individual when multiple names are not being notarized”. Perhaps, but I offer two defenses to leaving it as is. First, the sole name, when there is only one affiant signing, is clearly entered in the notarization. Secondly, and admittedly this is a bit of a “reach” – the affiant might identify as being of dual identity. One ID, but they consider themselves two persons. Possibly one gender sometimes, different other times. Technically it’s proper for me to enter two names in the notary section when only one person is before me and taking the oath. This comes directly from the NY County Clerk office. If the affiant has two passports with a different name on each document – they have “proved” both names and “they” have the option of having each name entered on the notary section.

With the rampant rise of identity theft and similar crimes; the role of the notary has become more, not less, important in commerce. More important yes, but not of greater scope in our basic function. Many are the “notary signature only” documents I have seen included with the packages. Fortunately for me it is illegal in NY as a notary; to make statements of fact. The most common being for me to state that I have determined the identity of the affiant(s) to an absolute certainty. The State standard is to view “adequate proof” – not absolute proof. These statements by the notary will only admit you to the litigation chain if, in fact, you were conned by a good looking forgery of the ID.

But, let’s get back to the gender issue. A person is a person, nobody will refute that. We notarize people, they come in a wide variety – and it’s our job to accommodate all of them; within the bounds of our respective state codes. I leave my notarizations “open” to be all inclusive. It’s for others to decide issues of gender. It’s so easy to make false assumptions. I have asked the Sister of the affiant to sign on the Spouse line. Ouch, that was awkward for a moment. Clearly including the name, as taken from the ID is what works for me. Of course care should be taken to not provide an “open ended” notarization to which some additional name(s) can be added at a later date. As the County Clerk told me: “You notarize the name as on the ID, nothing else”. Thus, I make no determination as to he, she, or they, and leave the form alone.

You might also like:

What is so critical about crossing out he/she/they?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=22223

10 tight points on loose certificates
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15449

Notarizing John W. Smith
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16048

Notary certificates and Notary verbiage
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=1834

Share
>

3 Comments »

  1. NNA just came out with a recommendation to not alter the he/she/their notations in the notary. Simply writing the name(s) in and crossing out the available space so other names could be entered is sufficient. They mentioned that some California recorders are refusing to accept these notaries because of the alteration.

    Comment by David Hendron — September 21, 2016 @ 12:57 am

  2. In regards to “gender identity”, as a notary public in New Mexico, I can only by what the government-issued photo ID supports. On the NM Driver license, the gender is shown at the bottom with the other physical characteristics. However, as the article rightly points out, it has not been an issue in executing either acknowledgment or jurat certificates. Lastly, should gender be an issue – as with the signer’s name – a notary can only legally go by what the ID supports, i.e. the sex that the photo ID supports. If it says Male, the person is male; and if Female, then female. Regardless of how that person “feels” like identifying on a particular day.

    Comment by Brian Milbank — October 2, 2016 @ 6:36 am

  3. At the same time, in the thousands of notary sections that have my signature and seal in the states of CA and TX, and over 15 years of doing this, I have redacted ALL of the gender identifiers that have been included in the wording. Not one has ever been “called to task” for performing the redactions.

    Comment by Martin Renteria — November 21, 2016 @ 3:49 am

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *