Notaries have to perform Oaths as part of their job. But, many have no idea how to do this. If you are notarizing an Affidavit, you generally use a Jurat form, and you need an accompanying Oath. It is an infraction of notary law to omit the Oath, so don’t forget!
How do you word an Oath?
Let’s say, that you have an Affidavit about some business arrangement in front of you. You watch the signer sign the document in front of you as is required. Then, it is Oath time…
Oaths generally begin with:
“Please raise your right hand!”
“Do you solemnly swear…” You could begin with, “Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”
But, what is the purpose of the Oath about the Affidavit? You need to have the signer swear that they understand the document, agree to the document, and will abide by the terms of the document which is usually some sort of contract.
When I was doing this job, my standard Oath verbiage was:
“Please raise your right hand… Do you solemnly swear that the contents of this document are true and correct, that you agree to it, and will abide by the terms in this document?”
The answer that I accept is a clear, “I do”. I never accept grunts, or uhs, or ahs. People don’t always take Oaths seriously, but I do, or should I say, “I do!”.
If you are notarizing five affidavits for an individual, do one separate Oath for each notarized document or signature.
Good luck!
You might also like:
When are you required by law to do Oaths?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21017
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http://blog.123notary.com/?p=17528
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http://blog.123notary.com/?p=2545
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http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19549
Oaths – How Notaries completely screw them up!
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19369
