Posted by LatteLady/NV on 2/1/12 7:13pm
Msg #410573

I wish there was an Amber Alert for Notaries

I wish there was an Amber Alert for notaries. If you are a notary in the Reno/Sparks Nevada area, and you get a call from a man named Charlie calling about his mother Jane in Emeritas Senior Living: please be aware!

The family is trying hard to get a notary to go meet Jane who is a resident of Emeritas. The paperwork is a Power of Attorney for Healthcare/Advanced Directives and also a pension fund release. Jane is in the Memory Care ward with dementia and alzheimer's. This sweet little old lady is way too far gone to sign papers. She says she won't sign them without her husband. (he's been dead for years).

After asking her many questions, I knew that she is not capable of signing. Even the director of the facility says she can't comprehend reality. Please, if you get a phone call to go out to Emeritas in Reno for a lady named Jane, please say no. The family needs to go thru the system and get guardianship of her. They waited too long. It's sad, but it's true.

Reply by Buddy Young on 2/1/12 7:30pm
Msg #410576

Re: You just created one. n/m

Reply by VT_Syrup on 2/1/12 7:48pm
Msg #410577

I would report it to the agency in Nevada that protects elderly citizens. I would think the staff of the senior living center would be mandatory reporters and be obliged to report this to the appropriate authorities.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 2/1/12 8:06pm
Msg #410579

I agree with VT_Syrup...

I got snookered into visiting someone in the nursing home area of the VA here - family told me father wanted to revoke a poa - aif was squandering the money..

So I meet daughter outside - she takes me upstairs...we get to room (door closed) and someone comes screaming down the hall to intercept us - it was the social worker/patient advocate - she informs me dad is not capable of signing - his admission to that particular unit is proof that he's incompetent. Then she turns to daughter and says "I told you, you can't do this - you need to get an attorney and get a guardianship but he is incapable of signing". Family was trying to do an end-around the system by bringing in their own notary..

Be very very careful of these situations.

Reply by Karla/OR on 2/1/12 8:34pm
Msg #410582

Though I don't live in NV, thanks for the heads-up. n/m

Reply by MW/VA on 2/1/12 9:29pm
Msg #410589

That's the way it should be. The staff knows better than

anyone if someone is capable to signing legal documents.

Reply by CinOH on 2/2/12 12:07pm
Msg #410625

Notaries have to be very careful with these situations. I no longer take these appointments unless the signer calls me themselves to set it up. The families ALWAYS say their loved one is aware, able to sign, and wants to sign. They will say anything to get you to come out.

Sometimes it is actually the facility staff orchestrating these situations. I've had two situations like that.

Once a doctor lied to a patient in front of me and told her POA papers were treatment papers that she HAD to sign to continue to get treatment at the hospital. It was actually a durable financial POA giving the woman's daughters control of her finances. I refused the notarization.

The other time a social worker at a nursing home told me flat out that the lady was out of it but asked me to sign a durable POA for the lady's son so that he could have access to the lady's bank account to pay the lady's bill. I told her I couldn't do that. The son went berserk. I mean falling onto the floor, throwing things, cursing, etc., etc. He told the social worker that she'd promised him that "this one would notarize it." Apparently, I wasn't the first notary they'd tricked out there.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 2/2/12 8:17pm
Msg #410697

That's why you make it clear up front that travel / service fees are payable whether or not you are able to complete the notarization. (In most states, you can't charge a notary fee if no notarization has taken place.)