Thanks for all your research on this, Yoli. Well done! I do exactly as you do, for essentially the same reasons, although I believe at least one California notary has argued here to the contrary in the past on this very issue. That position was based on an interpretation of the grammar in a different section (for a passage that I believe wasn't very clearly written) that I happen to disagree with, so I won't get into it here.
However, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I believe this is just one more issue that illustrates a significant difference in perspective between some states about how notarial acts should be executed and documented. I do think Roger makes a very good point (as he invariably does), but IMHO that point would make more sense in states where some variance in certificate verbiage is allowed, unlike California. |
