I analyze everything because my notary commission is my bread and butter and I am not going to take the chance of having the Secretary of State come knocking on my door asking me to give it back because I'm out notarizing crap I shouldn't.
One of the main things I ask myself before I put my stamp on that piece of paper is "Peggy, if this ended up in court, for whatever reason, would you be able to stand up in front of a judge and defend your decision for notarizing this document?".
A nursing home called me recently to notarize a power of attorney for one of their residents. I drive over and find the resident, her daughter, and the nursing home social director in the room and there appears to be some sort of "heated discussion" going on. I see that the resident will be signing a power of attorney to allow her daughter to handle all of her affairs. I ask for her identification, which she provides, and then I ask her if she understands what she is signing today and is she signing this of her own free will. She says that she understands what she is signing but she does not want to sign it because her daughter is going to buy cat litter with her money and she is not going to allow that. The daughter then says to her mother that she didn't have any money of her own and she had to use her mom's money for cat litter and cat food. The resident is visibly upset and says she is not going to let her daughter have access to her accounts because she doesn't know how to manage her own money so how is she going to manage her money. The social director steps in and explains to the resident that this needs to be done . . . that they had already talked about this . . . she needs to sign this document.
There was no way in heck I was going to notarize that document. That lady clearly did not want to sign that document and they were eventually going to talk her into it and she probably would have signed it in the end, but I did not want to be any part of it. Analyze, then notarize!
Let's just say for example that they finally wear the poor lady down, she concedes defeat and signs the document, someone notarizes it because I sure as heck wasn't going to, and four months later the daughter has spent all of the poor woman's money on cat food and cat litter and leaves her nothing to pay her bills with. A relative steps in and takes this to court because the lady never wanted to give her daughter control of her finances and never wanted to sign the power of attorney in the first place . . . she was forced by the daughter and the nursing home. What do you think a judge is going to say about all of this? Sometimes you do have to analyze before you notarize. I am not saying that you can't notarize your document . . . I don't know . . . I wasn't there. But sometimes you just have to use good common sense. |
| Messages in this Thread |
|  After the Fact, Witness Statement? - TacomaBoy on 9/25/16 3:08am |
|  Notarize, don't Analyze... - Linda_H/FL on 9/25/16 8:16am |
 |  Analyze, then Notarize! - Peggy Taylor on 9/25/16 1:15pm |
|  Peg, your scenario is entirely different from - Linda_H/FL on 9/25/16 1:28pm |
|  Yes Linda, I Know The Scenario Was Entirely Different . . . - Peggy Taylor on 9/25/16 1:37pm |
| Whether the document was drawn properly is not my business. -  C. Rivera Chicago Notary Services on 9/25/16 2:59pm |
| Not my concern to tell them this...they have to - Linda_H/FL on 9/25/16 3:26pm |
| Linda, your concern for your clients is clear, none. And its - C. Rivera Chicago Notary Services on 9/25/16 7:22pm |
|  Cari, you don't know me so you know nothing... - Linda_H/FL on 9/26/16 8:18am |
|  Linda, it doesn't feel good to get judged here does it? - C. Rivera Chicago Notary Services on 9/28/16 8:07am |
| Re: After the Fact, Witness Statement? - Art_PA on 9/25/16 9:22am |
| I agree. If the witness statement was not notarized at the - MW/VA on 9/25/16 9:30am |
| I would've notarized the document as the legitimacy of the - C. Rivera Chicago Notary Services on 9/25/16 3:29pm |
| Re: After the Fact, Witness Statement? - Luckydog on 9/25/16 1:35pm |
| I'm With You Luckydog . . . - Peggy Taylor on 9/25/16 1:42pm |
| Re: After the Fact, Witness Statement? - LKT/CA on 9/25/16 2:10pm |
| Re: After the Fact, Witness Statement? - MikeC/TX on 9/25/16 4:19pm |
| Agree w/Mike. n/m - C. Rivera Chicago Notary Services on 9/25/16 7:24pm |
| Re: After the Fact, Witness Statement? - JanetK_CA on 9/25/16 8:19pm |
| Thanks, Mike. That's good info. n/m - MW/VA on 9/26/16 8:06am |
