10 Most Common Mistakes to Avoid as a Notary Public

Jun 12

Getting your commission as a Notary Public in your state is a very exciting thing. It can also be a very scary thing. When you hold a commission as a notary public, you are serving as an impartial witness, and an officer of integrity. You as the notary are representing the state in which you live.

Many notaries public carry a bond or errors and omissions insurance to serve as a liability insurance should a mistake be made, but what are those mistakes? When would one need such insurance to cover them? All very good questions with complicated answers.

Not every state requires education prior to becoming a commissioned notary, and some states require very little training. We can go more in depth to that in another blog post. For now, the best advice I can give (not legal advice) is to do your research, and if you live in one of the states that doesn’t require much, or any prior education, it is up to you to do the research and make sure you’re up to date. If you are reading this blog post, you’re one step ahead!

Here are 10 common mistakes a notary can make, and how to avoid them.

1. Not knowing the correct notarial act.

There are different notarial acts. Some get these mixed up. While the notary cannot choose the certificate for the signer (as it is legal advice), it is important for the notary to know the difference in order to know how to complete the act. For instance, an acknowledgment is an act permitted in all states, and is the way a signer acknowledges they are the ones who signed the document, and it was done voluntarily. However, ig there is an oath that needs to be administered, if the notary doesn’t know the types of certificates, they would not perform the verbal ceremony, thus leaving the notarial certification incomplete.

2. Not completing the notarial certificate.

Empty spaces by the signer and/or the notary render the notarial certification incomplete. If the notary doesn’t ensure their personal correct signature (matching the states records), or that their stamp is whole, or the dates and/or expiration dates or commission number aren’t present, the notarial act/certificate is incomplete.

3. Failure to require proper identification, or failure to verify identification.

Because one of our major jobs as a notary is to serve as an agent of integrity to prevent fraud and verify signers’ identity and intentions, one of the most basic first steps in a notarization is properly identifying the signer, following the rules set forth by your state. The information on the identification must always include basic components to give the notary adequate information to accurately identify the signer, a photo, physical description, address, birthdate, expiration date and signature.

4. Failing to perform the required verbal ceremony.

If there must be an oath administered and the notary does not perform the verbal ceremony, the certificate is considered incomplete. How do you know if you must perform an oath? If the document uses the words “sworn to and subscribed” it must be accompanied by a verbal oath.

How do you administer an oath? Ask the signer to raise their right hand, and ask “do you solemnly swear or affirm, that the statements in this document are true?”. The signer should answer yes.

5. Not knowing the difference between an Acknowledgement and an Oath.

Briefly spoken on earlier in number 1, the reason I added this in a more specific section is that there are differences between acknowledgements and an oath. While I have spoken to the importance of performing the verbal ceremony in number four (4), I want to elaborate. An acknowledgment can be done a few different ways, without the verbiage of an oath being required, an acknowledgement can happen in person (while they are signing it), or I some situations (pending the verbiage), the document could have been signed days prior, and the signer is there affirming and acknowledging to you now, stating they did sign it themselves, days prior.

6. Conflict of interest

Some states have specific rules surrounding what constitutes conflict of interest. Most common is one may not notarize any documents for their spouse, their family, or any document in which the notary can/would benefit from. Some examples to this are Wills where the notary as a person, is a beneficiary, or any family law documents regards child support and such. Some states, such as Oregon, do not specifically restrict the notarization for family members, but it is highly cautioned against as that specific document may not hold up in court. Lastly, a notary cannot notarize their own signature (pay special attention to documents where the notary also serves as a witness).

7. Failure to Keep Records

Your notary seal will outlive you and your commission(s). There may be a time a decade down the road, someone comes asking about a notarization performed (or in a rare case, refused). If you’ve not documented that notarization and the details surrounding it, you could find yourself in some legal trouble. The very minimum documentation you should keep (for a minimum of 10 years) is the date and time of the notarization, a description of the document notarized, the name and address of the signer, their signature, type of identification produced by the signer, the fee charged and any notes about the singing (good, bad, cautious).

8. Affixing the Notarial Seal incorrectly

Affixing means placing. If you do not affix your seal correctly, the notarization isn’t valid. Most documents that require notarization, are on a deadline and/or have a large sum of money attached to them (such as real estate documents). The seal/stamp is a symbol of the notary’s authority, and it must be legible on the document, or that notarization is incomplete.

9. Failure to require personal appearance

Unless the notarial act is meant for a Remote Online Notarization (RON), the signer must be present in front of the notary. Without the signer being present and signing with the notary (except in a few specific situations), there would be no point to the role of a notary. Physical presence is the very building blocks of a notary in preventing fraud and verifying the identity and intention of the signer. It is considered fraud if not required, in some state’s a civil infraction and even a felony.

10. Being an accomplice to fraud!

Impartiality and integrity, agents of the state in preventing fraud. If during the duration of the interaction with the individual(s) you learn information that would suggest (or make you reasonably believe) the document is either fraudulent or being used to commit fraud, it is your JOB and responsibility to say no, and walk away from the notarization. It may also be important (depending on the specifics of the situation) to notify any parties involved. An example being; you are notarizing a loan document, and find that some of the information provided in inaccurate and/or fraudulent, stop the signing, notify the hiring party and escrow.

I am not a lawyer and cannot provide legal advice