Posted by Elizabeth/CA on 8/4/04 7:21pm
Msg #5520

Seal without signature

I posted this in Mobile Signing Registry but noticed some members here are not members there so here it is.

I observed a Notary Public (from the UPS Store) affix his notary and name/UPS Store stamp on a form issued by a school district. I asked why he didn't sign it and he said he didn't need to because the wordings are already there.

So, is this ok? What other documents do we affix our notary stamp without our signature?

Reply by Gerry Ashton on 8/4/04 8:45pm
Msg #5524

I read a book about notary procedures which suggests
that to improve security when using a loose certificate,
one could apply the seal both to the loose certificate
and the document, but only sign the loose certificate.

In another context, I had to order about 10 pages
of course discriptions from my university, and the
registrar's office applied the university seal
to each and every page.

Reply by PAW Notary Services on 8/4/04 9:41pm
Msg #5527

You should NEVER apply your seal to a page that does not have a properly completed notarial certificate. And for a notarial certificate to be properly completed, the notary public must affix his/her signature to that certificate. Even in California!

As for stamping the document and the loose certificate, they probably were referring to aligning the documents such that half the stamp appears on one page and half on the other. This helps in identifying which pages belong together. However, my personal feeling is that a notary stamp is not meant for that purpose. I use the embosser to emboss both pages together. (The embossed seal is not the official seal in FL, in and of itself. Only the black ink stamp is considered the "official" notary seal.)

Paul/FL

Reply by redonthehead on 8/5/04 10:12am
Msg #5543

The wording certainly doesn't account for the signature of the notary that affixed his/her seal. If this is a document that's going to be recorded, it will be denied. And if it isn't, somewhere down the road, I can see a lawsuit brewing.