Posted by Sylvia_FL on 12/10/08 4:46pm
Msg #271618

Just venting:)

Just had a lady come to me to have her signature notarized on a divorce degree document.
The document has to go to her attorney in Missouri. (Apparently her ex is in MO and everything is done there)
Name on the docs is (example) Jane Smith, the only acceptable ID she has is in the name of Jane Doe (which is her maiden name). She showed me all these other "ID cards" Visa, Master card etc, which I told her was not acceptable.
I told her under Florida law that I can notarize the name on the ID and put AKA the name on the docs, or formerly known as, whichever she is. She said she is also known as the name on the docs.
So, I start to fill out a certificate (I had voided the one on the document and wrote to see attached Florida compliant certificate), I put the name on the ID and was writing "also known as" when she said that I couldn't do that, the name on the doc had to be the one on my certificate. I explained to her that I had to follow Florida notary laws. She argued the document was going to Missouri. I explained that I still had to follow Florida notary laws.
So, she gets her attorney on her cell phone and puts him on speaker. He tells me I need to put the name that is on the docs. I tell him I can't identify her as the name on the docs. He tells me that he can identify her for me! He also has her signature on file which he will fax over. I tell him that I follow Florida notary laws and I cannot accept him identifying her over the phone. He says he understands that I want to comply with Florida laws as a Florida notary but sometimes we don't always have to go by the book!
It ended up with him telling her to find another notary.
She told me I had screwed everything up by voiding the certificate on the document and not notarizing her signature.

I bet she will find someone who will accommodate her, but it won't be me.

Like I said, I am just venting

Reply by Ernest__CT on 12/10/08 5:01pm
Msg #271622

Good for you! n/m

Reply by davidK/CA on 12/10/08 5:59pm
Msg #271627

I believe that most attorneys know nothing about Notary Law

and yet they often give legal advise about what a Notary Public can and should do as if they actually knew the law.

Sylvia, you were doing exactly what the law requires, and I would have done the same.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 12/10/08 6:16pm
Msg #271629

Re: I believe that most attorneys know nothing about Notary Law

He obviously understood about the notary laws, but "we don't always go by the book"!

I follow Florida notary laws to the letter. Matter of ethics.

Reply by sue_pa on 12/10/08 7:14pm
Msg #271635

Re: I believe that most attorneys know nothing about Notary Law

This example is one of the reasons I will seldom do 'private' notary work. You made yourself available, spent xxx amount of time and got paid nothing.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 12/10/08 7:32pm
Msg #271639

Re: I believe that most attorneys know nothing about Notary Law

As I am no longer mobile I do a lot of regular notary work and at $10 per notarization it is worth it. I get a lot of customers with their loan mod agreements too.
A local pack n ship place doesn't have a notary and they have been sending customers to me for several years now.
If I was still able to get out and do loan signings myself I wouldn't be doing as much regular notary work.
This lady was the exception rather than the rule. I have met a lot of nice people through regular notary work. I was doing regular notary work before I was a signing agent. I enjoy it

Reply by CF on 12/10/08 7:46pm
Msg #271641

The clerk at the court house did not ID my

Mom while I was standing there and she notarized a Landlord Eviction Notice for her. I was shocked and I could not believe what I had just witnessed. I did not say anything to her- my Mom is owed about $3000.00 in back rent and damages to a property and I would hate to see it come back one her- her paperwork not processed correctly or something strange.

This was at the court house- a person filing an Eviction Notice (is the same as a law suit) and they did not ID. It really is just unbelievable what you will see.

I follow the law- my livelihood depends on my stamp and I never want to have that in question!!!

Reply by MikeC/NY on 12/10/08 10:25pm
Msg #271659

Here's an example for you

I had to do some research on an estate that was still in probate; the deceased was an attorney, and under NY law he was granted a notary commission just because he was an attorney (we commoners have to pass an exam...).

Attached to the will was a self-proving affidavit - a separate, notarized document the witnesses sign affirming that they witnessed the execution of the will. The point of it is to remove the need for the probate court to locate the witnesses after the testator dies. The affidavit was notarized by the attorney - he notarized the affidavit for his own will, which probably invalidated the affidavit, which could explain why his will was still in probate 3 years after he died.

And they go to law school to learn this stuff...

Reply by Becca_FL on 12/10/08 9:39pm
Msg #271653

Some people just don't get it, attys included.

As you've always told me...just do the right thing.

Reply by Maureen_nh on 12/10/08 10:59pm
Msg #271662

Hi Sylvia a/k/a Cookie Lady,
Have missed you.
Just curious, don't you have something in FL that says Jane Doe who presented herself to me as Jane Smith or something like that, or was that not pertinent in this case?

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 12/11/08 6:23am
Msg #271670

Hi Maureen

Yes, I could have done the presented to me etc, and that is what I was doing when she objected. I had explained it to her before I started filling out the certificate, that I was able to do name on license and presented to me that she was also known as. She was Ok with it, until I actually started to fill out the certificate, then she said I couldn't put the name on the ID on the certificate. This is the only way she can legally have her signature notarized on that document in Florida.
(And I am sure Missouri notary laws wouldn't allow an attorney on the phone to identify the signer)

Reply by JanetK_CA on 12/11/08 1:36am
Msg #271668

Can you spell F-R-A-U-D? ;>)

I bet that's exactly how some of them get away with it! Too bad that you're probably right that they'll find someone else who will fall for it...

Reply by MonicaFL on 12/11/08 8:22am
Msg #271681

Probably too much trouble but I would have contacted the Missouri Bar Association and filed a complaint against this attorney. Its attorneys like that who think they know everything then end up screwing up everything.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 12/11/08 9:30am
Msg #271695

Would have done that Monica, only I don't know the name of the attorney. She called him on her cell phone and put him on speaker phone. I don't have any idea of his name or where in Missouri he was located. Heck for all I know this could have been a friend of hers around the corner pretending to be her attorney.

Reply by jojo_MN on 12/11/08 8:43am
Msg #271686

Did she have her marriage license and an old drivers license showing her married name. Some companies have accepted "chains of events" linking old names to new ones. I've used this route many times in divorce (and marriage) situations where the title was in the opposite name of the person signing.

I have a few attorney friends who also aren't aware of notary laws in this part of the country. You would think that would be part of their training before and after passing the bar.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 12/11/08 9:28am
Msg #271693

JoJo
It wouldn't have mattered if she had her marriage license or an old drivers license. To notarize anyones signature I have to comply with Florida notary laws as to acceptable identification.
I could have legally done the notarization using the also known as or formerly known as language, but she didn't want that. She just wanted me to notarize her in a name I could not identify her in according to Florida notary laws.