I don't know where people get the idea that it's illegal or inappropriate to sign a document prior to the date on the document itself, but it's obviously a common belief - even among employees at title companies. If anyone can show me where it says anything close to that in any CA (or federal) law, I'd very much like to see it!
As some here have said, our only concern about dates as a notary *should be* that we accurately date our acknowledgements. As signing agents, how we should have the borrowers date is a whole other issue, that like most things isn't always, always one way. (Different subject, though.)
There are some lenders out there (Wells Fargo being one of them, as kathy/ca said) who routinely date the documents with a future date. These packages are often sent directly to borrowers with instructions for them to sign "on or before" the date on the documents. They have their reasons. Sometimes it appears that they want the document date to reflect the closing date. I don't know and it's not up to us to presume that they did that incorrectly. However, it's probably a good idea to check, since you never know when someone in the process (like an over-worked escrow assistant?) will get it into their head that it's not acceptable and they will kick it back for correction or re-do. I think a lot of it is that people just assume because it seems to make sense to them.
But again, if anyone feels that way, please show us some kind of documentation. I suspect that all you will find is hearsay.
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