Posted by ChristineHI on 6/18/08 9:25pm
Msg #251949

Document in Spanish..what to do.

ALOHA

I just received a call from someone from Argentina who is living in Maui, Hawaii, where I am, who needs a power of attorney notarized. The document is in Spanish. I don't understand Spanish.
I guess she owns some land in Argentina and wants to give power of attorney to her family members so they can take care of the land for her. She would be present of course to sign the document.
I could have the document translated if necessary, but I would be nervous notarizing a document that will be used in a foreign country, especially when land is involved.
I have never been asked to do a signing like this before and was wondering if others have ever notarized a foreign document.
I could not find any Spanish speaking notaries in Maui for her either so I thought I would see if anyone out there has any ideas.

Thanks for any insight you might have!

Reply by Philip Johnson on 6/18/08 9:44pm
Msg #251953

Page 6 says it all.

http://hawaii.gov/ag/notary/quicklinks/notary_manual/notary%20manual-edited.pdf

Reply by Roger_OH on 6/19/08 11:57am
Msg #252022

I'm surprised...

that a state manual would suggest as a matter of policy NOT to notarize sigs on foreign language documents. In Ohio, there is nothing to to preclude it. As long as I've ID'd the signer, they are signing freely, and I complete the ack/jurat in English (and compliant with Ohio wording), then as a notary I'm not concerned with the contents of the document (less any blank spaces). The onus is on the signer who acknowledged or swore to the content of the document, and that signature is what I'm notarizing.