Posted by JanetK_CA on 2/18/10 3:59am
Msg #323297

Not gonna happen!

This is intended as a heads up for newbies or anyone else who doesn't know better... I got a call today from someone about a Grant Deed I notarized for a seller several months back. (I don't remember the exact details and didn't bother looking them up.) Apparently, the legal description was incorrect (a tc error), so it was rejected by the county recorder. I was being asked to come up with a new acknowledgment dated after the date on the GD, since it had already passed through the Recorder's office. They want the same notary, but the person who called me said that the people I notarized don't need to sign it again. OK, fine by me, but that will involve a trip fee to re-acknowledge. (Not my error.) Then she tried to tell me that I didn't need to go back to the signers, just do a new ack, since they already signed it, and it was just the Legal description that was changed, and could I work from a copy. What??!!

I had to go through a whole explanation, saying that I didn't acknowledge the legal description, or any other content of the document. All I acknowledged was that on a certain date, certain people - who I identified - personally appeared before me and acknowledged that they signed that certain document. And then I need to have them sign my journal, as a record of their appearance on that date, etc. So that required them to "personally appear" again.

I probably would have charged them only about $50 (it was close by), but they weren't willing to go for it. She said they would find another way to handle it. The kicker was when this person told me she was also a notary! I shudder to think what they might do to save a few bucks. Just unbelievable!!!

Reply by CopperheadVA on 2/18/10 6:37am
Msg #323298

I was once sent a signature aff that had not been included in the original package. A few days later, the lender decided the wife needed a signature aff and they sent her one via email and she signed it with the various names that were printed on it. The TC sent it to me via email and asked me to notarize it - they even said they didn't need an original returned to them, just to fax it back.

Yes, I had met with the borrowers for the loan signing, but this doc was not in the package, and besides that, it was a copy - not an original signature. I explained to the TC that NO CAN DO - said that I would have to meet again with the signer in order to notarize (and also said I could not notarize a photocopied signature). They passed, so I'm not sure how they ended up handling it.

Reply by Marilynn Wells on 2/18/10 9:00am
Msg #323306

Unfortunately, we hear that kind of thing a lot. Not everyone plays by the rules. Like anything else, it is only our own actions we can control.

Reply by Yoli/CA on 2/18/10 9:25am
Msg #323313

Had a call from XX Title couple of weeks ago regarding a signing I facilitated in November. Seems the Note had to be corrected as well as a Rider. Since I was the notary at the original signing would I go back out and get them signed and notarized with original date.

Had to explain that:

1. I will not backdate any notarized document
AND
2. Note and Rider are not notarized documents.

Wowee and Zap!!! said the caller. ;o} " guess we can just overnight them to borrower with instructions. Thank you and we'll be sure to call you when we have something else in your area!"

Just makes me wonder sometimes ...

Reply by JulieD/KS on 2/18/10 9:58am
Msg #323319

Sadly, all the unethical people aren't in politics...some are notaries. Some will do whatever a title company tells them to do. And title companies (or signing services) will use the line: "we'll just find someone more flexible that you" when what they really mean is they will try to find someone willing to break the law in order to keep the title company's butt out of trouble since they failed to do it right the first time.

It doesn't happen often...but I've had it happen to me, too. I will do what I can to help a company fix an error as long as they don't ask me to do something illegal.

They will often try to make it look like notary error so that the notary will fix the problem for free.

GRRRR!

Reply by NMS/FL on 2/18/10 12:20pm
Msg #323362

How about an air conditioning company who asked me to sign a particular document and when I told them that their document had a notarial certificate on it, they replied that they would have the company notary notarize it back at the office. I said, "Oh, really?" "Yes we do it all the time." was their response!!! Or the close friend who asked me to notarize a spouse signature at his house when she was out of state. "Oh, come on, we've been friends forever and you know my wife." was the reasoning. Needless to say, after refusing, he's ever since never talked to me. Or how about the notary who notarizes for the owner of a local community with over 300 residences! She simply signed her name and put her seal on the document. That's 2 out of 9 requirements met in Florida, but where are the other 7? Amazing!!

Reply by ikando on 2/18/10 1:32pm
Msg #323379

When I first got my commission, I was working in a law firm. The attorneys would routinely have their clients sign docs, and after the client left have me "notarize" them.

That was before I had any idea what a notary was supposed to do and what the implications might be. Now, mostly through this and other forums, I've learned a lot!! I'm trying to get the SOS and state legislature to review and reconsider the statutes and the impact notaries can have.

And I'm constantly amazed at how many people still think "all you gotta do is stamp this document."

Reply by MW/VA on 2/18/10 4:05pm
Msg #323394

This is the way things are handled all the time in banks, too.