I agree with the practical issue that nowadays most documents get scanned, and an industrial strength stapler is going to make that tough.
I've heard the mantara, we don't notarize documents, we notarize the signatures on those documents. But I never cared for that mantra. Indeed, I don't like the word notarize much either, since each different notarial act has its own subtleties.
In the case of an acknowledgement, starting July 1, my responsibility is:
"A notary public who takes an acknowledgment of a record shall determine, from personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence of the identity of the individual, that the individual appearing before the officer and making the acknowledgment has the identity claimed and that the signature on the record is the signature of the individual."
So if page 1 says "I, John Doe...", page 14 has a scribble over a signature line that says "John Doe" under it, and page 15 has the notarial certificate, I'm responsible to check the names on page 1 and 14, the signature on page 14, as well as the correctness of my certificate on page 15. If page 7 says John Doe acquire the property in 1989, perhaps I have a responsibility to make sure he looks at least 30 years old; that's not so clear. |
