Posted by Joshua Basil on 3/30/06 7:28pm
Msg #109913

Is there any way this is true

I had a notary in OK. tell me that per their state laws they are NOT required to check anyone's I.D. before notarizing anything for them. That if I come to her and say my name is John Doe, that she takes my word for it and does not ever ask for I.D.


I can't think of any reason any state would allow this as it seems to defeat the purpose of having a notary in the first place.

I went to the O.K. SOS web site and saw that you are supposed to record the person's I.D. in your journal. I just wanted to dbl check before I assume this notary in not the person I want covering my work.

Reply by DebOK on 3/30/06 7:33pm
Msg #109914

This is not true. The notary must determine either from personal knowledge or from satisfactory evidence that person appearing before notary is the person whose signature is on the document. I always ask for a valid drivers license.

Reply by Joshua Basil on 3/30/06 7:37pm
Msg #109915

Thank you very much for the clarification I was 99.9% that I was correct for(as I said) if you don't need to verify the Identification of a person what's the point of having a notary, however I like to give people the benefit of the doubt before I make decisions.

I sure hope this notary does not ever get herself into trouble later down the line, I tried to warn her to double check into that but she just seemed to get upset that I was questioning her knowledge of notary laws for a state I'm not located in.

Reply by LawrenceOK on 3/31/06 7:48am
Msg #110007

First of all Joshua, SB 655:25-5-1 was repealed in 2001. Although we are not required under state law to keep a journal, it is strongly recommend that we do. Yes I keep one.

As for this notary stating that we are not required to check ID's, thats just plain asinine. I sure hope she's not doing loan signings without IDing the borrower(s).

Reply by Joshua Basil on 3/31/06 12:47pm
Msg #110074

Hey Lawrence thanks for the heads up on the repeal, That's why I like to double check on laws for states that are not my own. Its kind of odd that they still list that info on the SOS web site if it was repealed. However I'm glad you where able to confirm my main point of making sure that it was required to check one's I.D.

It just seems to me that without doing so it negates the purpose of having a notary in the first place.

Thanks to everyone who was able to help formulate my opinion.