Believe it or not, a Notary in New York is authorized to perform Safety Deposit Box Openings. Yes, if you are a New York Notary, you can get paid to witness a Safety Deposit Box Opening. You would be required to take an inventory of the contents of the box. Sometimes a bank has to terminate a safety deposit box because someone died, etc. In such a case, a Notary is necessary to make sure everything id documented correctly. It sounds like a fun task if you like going to banks.
I don’t know what they can charge for such an act though. It involves driving, parking, waiting, and performing a simple clerical task. In my opinion, a job like this should be billed at $40 for travel, a dollar a minute waiting time paid up front in 20 minute increments, as well as $10 for the actual paperwork for performing the safety deposit box opening.
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I have declined these many, many times. The risk factor far out classes the meager pay. I’m not looking for fun tasks. I doubt that E&O would cover any related actions. I may not look it – but that notary”inventory” statement might come back to haunt the notary.
Comment by Kenneth Edelstein — October 31, 2016 @ 11:02 pm
I did one of these once. It was absolutely amazing what was in that box! Risk factor was non-existent since there were two attorneys plus a bank employee in the room with me. The bank employee did all the docukmenting of what was in the box, all I had to do was watch that she wrote down each item identified as it was taken out and notarize the list when we were done. As I said before, I was amazed by all the treasures that the box contained. I was paid handsomely besides.
Comment by Ellen Welsh — November 22, 2016 @ 5:18 am