Posted by Lake/NWI on 3/20/08 10:21am
Msg #239968

Two Urgent Questions!

JOHN DOE is personally known to me (or proved to me on the basis of such person's ____________________, which constitutes satisfactory evidence), appeared before me in

O.K., so, I DO personally know John Doe; so do I CIRCLE or UNDERLINE those words?

And then on the line where I would NORMALLY put in the type of i.d. shown to me, what do I put (since JOHN DOE did NOT show me any i.d.)? I KNOW I don't just leave it blank!

Thank you much!

Reply by Elaine Sedlock on 3/20/08 10:44am
Msg #239978

I could be wrong since you can't always believe what you read/hear and every state is different, however, I read in my SA studies that it is better/safer (even if you personally know the client) to use the "proved to me on the basis of ____________." This (paraphrasing here) was because of the fact that if anything ever comes into question later you're covered more. In other words, if you have satisfied the requirement of proving identity through use of a valid license/photo identification, etc., even if the person ISN'T who you've believed them to be you aren't liable if it turns out you're wrong. I babysat years ago for a couple w/four children. They'd been married for 10-11 years, lived in the same house, worked the same jobs, ect. One night cops came to the door and arrested the man. As it turned out he had assumed a false identity and had several warrants out for his arrest. I don't know what ever happened after that other than his wife and children were devastated, shocked, and moved away. He was given a life sentence. As a notary, if I had been the one who had officiated their wedding, notarized mortgage documents, or anything else, back then I'd have claimed personal knowledge since I'd known them for a long time. Today I would have just told them I needed to see proof of identity because that is my personal policy. JMHO
Good luck
Elaine

Reply by Lake/NWI on 3/20/08 10:56am
Msg #239984

Elaine, your story is amazing! You are the 2nd NSA that has advised me to just use their i.d. anyway.

But the problem is that YESTERDAY I ALREADY had circled that the signer is personally known to me, but I just did not know what to put on the BLANK line after that. Do you?

I did 3 notarizations for this person. On the 1st one, I put in the blank line N/A -- but I left the other 2 blank. Should I fill them in with N/A, leave them blank, or what?

Thank you. FROM NOW ON, I will ALWAYS use the person's i.d. even if I THINK I personally know them because.........who knows??!!

Reply by dickb/wi on 3/20/08 2:37pm
Msg #240042

you are always safer using the persons.....

id.......there is no need to circle any thing in the notarial cert....just draw a line through what is not correct if need be........if you are wise you will keep a journal of your notarial acts, which has a place for the id information........even tho wi doesn't require one...........

Reply by dickb/wi on 3/20/08 2:40pm
Msg #240045

whoops......i thought you were from....

northern wi......sorry about the mistake.....i don't know if indiana requires journals or not, but i still think it's wise to have one.......

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 3/20/08 11:08am
Msg #239986

If I personally know the person I line through the wording between "personally known to me" and "appeared before me" - so the line just reads John Doe who is personally known to me appeared before me.
And in the place where I would put ID I would put "personally known"

Reply by Lake/NWI on 3/20/08 11:21am
Msg #239990

Thank you, Sylvia! Now I know.

Do you think that since I previously had written N/A on the i.d. line, that it will be accepted like that?