Posted by VT_Syrup on 8/2/12 6:45am
Msg #429076

Notaries can't do as thorough a job as DMV clerks...

...because we don't have the tools they available to them. Someone comes in with a driver's license for ID, the clerk can verify it on line and pull up the picture to make sure the picture on the license hasn't been altered. We wouldn't deal with birth certificates, except perhaps to check something like a middle name, but DMV clerks can, in some states, verify the contents of the birth certificate with the state that issued it. So if the states were serious about notarizations, they would give us access to the tools to do a thorough job.

What triggered me to write this are the threads about web notarization and using technology to make notarizations easier at the expense of security, rather than using technology to make notarizations more secure.

Reply by Les_CO on 8/2/12 9:43am
Msg #429089

I would really like to comment, because I was wondering if Illinois DMV clerks can also check ID’s and birth certificates for false information? But some here would say it belongs in JP.

Reply by bagger on 8/2/12 11:00am
Msg #429098

LOL Illinois DMV?

Even if they could they probably wouldn't.
Illinois DMV's are the epitome of Government waste.
Stand in line for hours, and when you get to the head of the lint the clerk slaps up a lane closed sign and goes on break.
Sorry but those workers are the slowest, laziest group I have ever seen, and would be fired in a private company.

P.S. Let Hugh and Suzy complain, I am tired of them spinning here and in Leisure into their own agenda.

Reply by Clem/CA on 8/2/12 10:39am
Msg #429094

LOL Like the ones that allow a person to change their middle name without knowing what problems it causes at a signing? I just had to decline to notarize one one yesterday because the BO was allowed to do this and no longer had ID to match her DOT

Reply by VT_Syrup on 8/2/12 12:40pm
Msg #429102

Hmm... a smart DMV clerk (I know what you're all thinking) would *advise* the applicant about the complications changing a middle name can cause, but if the applicant meets the requirements to change the name, the clerk has to do it if the applicant insists. In many states, the law is almost silent about what exactly a name is, and ALL the acceptable ways to change it. If the law gives no clear guidance to the DMV, how can the DMV give clear guidance to the client.

By ALL the ways to change a name, consider that most states (including CA) allow common law name changes, but are really fuzzy about whether state agencies have to recognize these changes. Then there are the cases of people who change their names as part of same-gender marriages in states that allow that, and then move to states that don't allow those marriages. It's enough to make your head spin.

I wonder if Clem/CA knows if the would-be signer had id satisfactory to the DMV in the new name, or if the would-be signer just picked a name out of the blue with no paperwork and the DMV changed it?

Reply by Clem/CA on 8/2/12 12:45pm
Msg #429104

They changed their middle name to their maiden name and used the new one on all acceptable Ca IDs. She had the old name on several IDs but none were Ca approved.

Reply by VT_Syrup on 8/2/12 5:21pm
Msg #429143

Marriage name changes are complicated

The California Department of Health offers information to prospective brides and grooms:

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/birthdeathmar/Pages/MarriageLicenseceremonygeneralinfo.aspx

And that page guides those thinking about changing their names in connection with marriage to this page:

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/birthdeathmar/Documents/CHS-NameEqualityActPamphlet-2010-01-Merged.pdf

So it appears that IF the maiden formerly known as Mary Beth Jones married John Smith and wrote on her recent marriage license she wants to be know after the marriage as Mary Jones Smith, the DMV would have acted properly in issuing a license in that name; indeed, any other name would have been questionable.

But Clem/CA's case seems a bit different. It seems that when our maiden got married, she was known as Mary Beth Smith for a while, and then changed to Mary Jones Smith. That's just asking for trouble.