Posted by debjo_CA on 9/6/07 9:18pm
Msg #209729

Newby Questions re First Notary Assignment Tomorrow

I received my commission in March 2007 and have been studying hard to get up to speed as a new notary signing agent. I've actually had two unsolicited signing calls but declined them because I did not feel adequately prepared yet (almost there). I also realize that it's a terrible time to be starting, but I'm transitioning from being a full-time homeschooling mom so I'm starting from zero anyway.

I've been asked to do a notarization tomorrow that I do feel qualified to handle but would like to double check my plan of action with more experienced notaries. I have two individuals who will be signing one Affidavit with jurat language. I can identify one person using personal knowledge but must identify the second person with satisfactory evidence. I believe this will require me to fill out the notarial wording contained on the affidavit for only one person (indicating an ID method of personal knowledge) and to attach a loose certificate for the second person (indicating an ID method of satisfactory evidence). Is there any problem with doing this? I know it would be easier to just use ID for both people but I'm sure one of my notary handbooks said that you should use the personal knowledge method when it clearly applies because it is the best method, even in cases where you must fill out two certificates as a result.

My second issue is giving the oath. It seems to me that the CA notary handbook clearly states that an acceptable oath is "Do you swear or affirm that the statements in this document are true?". This oath seems to neatly avoid the issue of determining whether the affiant is willing to swear or would rather affirm. However, every notary class handout and handbook I have (and I have quite a few at this point) seems to indicate that you must administer either an oath or an affirmation. Is my interpretation of the handbook incorrect? If it is okay to use the above oath, then I do not need to delete any wording at the beginning of the jurat certificate ("Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed)" since the affiant wasn't required to choose. Of course, I would still amend the jurat certificate to reflect the method of ID and to indicate whether it was a person or person(s). I would greatly appreciate any and all advice. Thank you in advance for your help.

Reply by MariaIECA on 9/6/07 10:04pm
Msg #209733

Re: debjo, I just sent you a private reply... n/m

Reply by JanetK_CA on 9/6/07 10:43pm
Msg #209735

These are two good questions, so it's clear that you *have* been doing your homework! Congratulations!

Regarding the oath, you correctly determined that the handbook gives us some lattitude. I prefer to always combine the two instead of asking if they have a preference, saying "Do you solemnly swear (or affirm under penalty of perjury) that bla, bla..." As for the form of ID used, seems to me there are two ways of handling this. One is to leave the wording complete as is, without specifying which signer used what method. Another possibility is to put each party on a separate certificate and line through the words that don't apply separately on each one, so that it is clear that one person was IDd as "personally known to me" and the other via "satisfactory evidence". This one is kind of a judgement call and might even vary based on what document is being notarized. hth

Good luck tomorrow!

Reply by SharonMN on 9/7/07 8:43am
Msg #209759

Awesome - a newbie question that's more complicated than "got an assignment - what should I do?"

I always say "Do you swear...." and cross out the affirmation wording on the certificate. If they object to swearing, I give them the option of affirming (and then I would cross out "sworn" on the certificate). I find if you give people a choice at the beginning, their eyes glaze over.

Does CA gives you the option of doing one certificate which says something like "before me appeared Jane Doe, personally known to me, and John Doe, who produced satisfactory evidence...." ? In MN the certificate is very simple so the issue doesn't arise.

Reply by debjo_CA on 9/7/07 12:42pm
Msg #209792

Thanks so much for the response. I like your approach to the swear/affirm issue. The required wording on a CA jurat form is very specific so I must line out the ID method which doesn't apply to a signer. If I have two signers using two different methods, then I can't line out either ID method on a single certificate. This creates a problem because if I do that, every single word of the certificate is not true for each signer. Since the cardinal rule is that every single word of your notary certificate must be absolutely true and correct, I decided that I should use two certificates. When I did the notarization this morning, using two certificates worked out anyway because one signer was in a hurry and wanted to go first. The other signer was very interested in the process and wanted to take a more leisurely approach to the signing.