So, you are a notary? But:
(1) Do you fill out your certificates thoroughly?
(2) Do you know what the optional or additional information section of the acknowledgment certificate is?
(3) Do you know what a certificate is?
(4) Do you know what the Acknowledgment wording is in your state?
(5) Do you cross out the his/her/their or (s) in capacity(s)?
Most notaries don’t do their cross outs which is illegal to skip. And the Secretary of State is too busy to catch up with all of the notaries in their respective state.
What is in the optional information section, and should it be optional?
(1) Number of pages in the document
(2) Document name
(3) Document date
(5) Other signers who signed the document but, were not notarized on that notarization
(6) Right thumbprint of signer
Why is this important?
There are a lot of frauds out there. California law requires notaries to STAPLE (legally, the word used is attach) the notary certificate to the corresponding document. But, do you know how many people detach the staple? Title companies complained about my staples because they detached everything I stapled. They are inviting fraud if you ask me. It looks tampered with if they detach documents. Very sketchy. If I were the Secretary of State, I would investigate anyone who unstapled a notary document and might have them arrested for suspected fraud!
If a fraud wants to take an Acknowledgment OFF one document and attach it to another, it will be hard work if the optional information is all filled out. The number of pages would have to measure up. The document date would need to correspond. The Document name would have to be consistent as well. Most frauds would have not go that far, and might make a mistake matching all of the statistics since they were not trained well (probably). But, imagine if you submit an Acknowledgment certificate that has none of this information? You could conceivably reattach it to ANY document that the signer signed — an invitation for others to commit fraud.
Therefor, I believe that it should be required by law in all states to fill in the optional information section — hence renaming it the required additional information section. Be square and deter fraud today!
You might also like:
10 tight points on loose certificates
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15449
Acknowledgment FAQ
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21331
Basic Notary Acts — Acknowledgments
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19500
Can a notary sign on a different day?
Can a notary sign on a different day?
This is a tricky question and a bit vague if you ask me. The date of a notarization corresponds to the date that the signer signs the notary journal (according to me). Some signers will sign for an acknowledged signature a minute, day, week, month, year, or decade before the notarization, and that is legal according to California notary law, and probably in most if not all other states. For Jurats, the signature must be made while personally appearing before a notary public. Oaths should ideally have an accompanying journal entry, however, there is no signature on a purely oral Oath (BTW… jurats are used with written statements that have an accompanying oath).
So, in all types of notary acts, the signer should ideally sign the notary journal, and the date and time when they sign the journal establishes the notarization date. Please keep in mind that a signing where the signer signs the document at 11:59pm and signs the notary journal at 12:01am the following day could be dated either day, but I prefer my golden rule of dating the notarization when the journal is signed.
The document date can be the date of the notarization or before, but is generally not after.
The signing date for an acknowledged signature can be the date of the acknowledgment or before, but never after
So, there are three dates that might concern the notary. It is a crime to backdate a notary certificate, but putting a previous date in the certificate wording. It is also a crime to post date the date in the certificate wording.
So, what does it really mean to ask, “Can a notary sign on a different day?”
If the notarization takes place on Monday, where the signer signs the document by Monday, and signs the journal on Monday, can the notary seal and stamp the certificate wording on Tuesday if the notary has possession of the document? This is not recommended, and is neglegence. However, if the signing was a late night signing on Monday, and you sign and affix your stamp to the document in your possession early Tuesday morning, that is still unacceptable, but sounds less unreasonable than letting it slide 24 or 48 hours!
So, the official answer to the above question is — NO! Sign the certificate within a minute or two of when the journal is signed if humanly possible.
You might also like:
Can you notarize a Birth Certificate?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=2300
Can a notary perform a wedding?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=1891
The John and Sally question revisited
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=20180
Document dates, signature dates, rescission dates and transaction dates
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=20189