Posted by Deborah Lewellen on 10/10/08 2:18pm
Msg #266926

All Star Title BackDating

I just got a call from a Title Company called All Star wanting me to do a closing for them on Saturday. I said sure, be happy to. She said well, the docs have to be backdated for todays Date. I said Absolutely NOT, That is ILLEGAL. She said o.k. so they are on the hunt for someone to do it. Funny thing is, that you never know at any time if you could be part of some sting operation to see if you would conduct an illegal act. How anyone could do it and think with a clear conscience that everything will be just fine.

Reply by Deborah Lewellen on 10/10/08 2:39pm
Msg #266927

Re: All Star Title BackDating area code

410 area code

Reply by Therese on 10/10/08 3:09pm
Msg #266929

NOT surprised...Notaries in my area will do that and more n/m

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 10/10/08 4:58pm
Msg #266941

Unbeleivable that they would do that. I know that if I ever

knew of a notary backdating or doing something "more" I would turn them in to the SOS faster than anything. I'm a firm believer in ethics, and that includes peer enforcement.

In the CA handbook, it specifically states that, "Any person who solicits, coerces, or in any manner influences a notary public to perform an improper notarial act knowing that act to be an improper notarial act, including any act required of a notary public under Section 8206, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."

That includes simply asking for it to be done. So if we tell them, hey...you can't even ask a notary to do that because it's against the law -- and they then continue looking -- they are themselves breaking the law. I have problem reporting *them* either.

I've been drafting a handout that quotes CA section 8225 and gives examples of illegal requests (such as backdating) that I'd be more than willing to give to someone who asks me to do anything illegal. On it, I simply quote from the handbook (which contains the entire section of the Government Code) and say that if they have any questions they should refer to an attorney. It's not quite finished yet...and I've yet to have an attorney look at it to make sure I'm not venturing into UPL territory, but I want to have something ready to handout/fax/email so I don't have to explain it over and over.

Some might think I'm a "tattle tale" -- but by doing something illegal it undermines the entire purpose of the position of a notary.

Reply by MikeC/NY on 10/11/08 5:16pm
Msg #267040

Re: Unbeleivable that they would do that. I know that if I ever

In the time I've been doing signings, I've been asked twice to backdate. Both times I refused, citing NY law; both times they said they understood, without copping a "Everyone does it!" attitude, and then they apparently went on to find someone who was not as ethically-challenged.

It's a felony here for a notary to backdate; as far as I know, there's no penalty for ASKING a notary to backdate (though I'm sure a clever prosecutor could come up with a way to get around that).