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Court deposition by phone
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Court deposition by phone
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Posted by kkarate on 1/23/12 8:07am
Msg #409644

Court deposition by phone

Can some one please explain to me what is required from a notary, other than identification of and administering and oath to the deponent. This is a 30 minute apt.

Reply by MW/VA on 1/23/12 8:10am
Msg #409645

I've done a few of these for out of state divorce hearings. All you need to do is verify the identity & administer an oath. I am usually there at the beginning when the court will ask the name of the notary, etc., and then I leave. I arrange to get my fee in advance so I can excuse myself at the appropriate time.

Reply by kkarate on 1/23/12 8:43am
Msg #409648

Thank for the information.

Reply by Linda Juenger on 1/23/12 10:27am
Msg #409652

I just did one of these last week. It also was a divorce hearing. I was in and out in 5 min. I "ID" the lady, gave the oath and the judge said I was free to go. Simple. Paid cash.

Reply by LynnNC on 1/23/12 10:40am
Msg #409653

I have done the same thing for divorce hearings and also depositions.

Reply by Roger_OH on 1/23/12 10:59am
Msg #409655

Same here - in, out, cash... n/m

Reply by FeliseSoCal on 1/23/12 2:39pm
Msg #409675

Me too. That's how I have handled the. You don't have to stay for the appt, just administer the oath.

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 1/23/12 11:16am
Msg #409659

I've done these, too, super easy. Identify the person, issue the oath... it may or may not be while on the phone. Some have asked me to do it before hand, others while on the phone.

Most of the time I'm asked to provide a copy of my commission certificate to the attorney of the person being deposed. Once on the phone, I'm asked to state my name and commission number, then verify that that the person appearing before me is so-and-so.

Once that's done, I'm usually free to leave. One time they asked me to stay because they were deposing 6 people that day. They ended up just paying me to sit there all day. Sweet gig since I just sat around all day and only went in when they needed me. The rest of the time I sat in an empty office with my laptop.

BTW, in California.. .oaths like are also recorded in our journals, just like any jurat would be... except there is no seal or document. In these, I write details about the location of the deposition, attorneys, etc.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 1/23/12 11:46am
Msg #409660

Florida handbook provides us with a form we can

complete for the requesting party - page 13-14

http://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/notary/ref_manual11-22.pdf

I agree - these are quick and easy - in and out unless they're going to pay you to sit and be unavailable for other work all day.

Reply by ikando on 1/23/12 11:50am
Msg #409661

Marian, I have done the same as you--stayed to give the oath to several witnesses. Can get boring, but it paid well.

As mentioned earlier, it's identify the party being deposed, get paid (usually by that person), wait for the phone call to connect (sometimes all the parties on the other end aren't there on time), talk to the judge or other attorney, identify yourself, that you are commissioned and current, swear the party in, and leave.

I had one client who called me regularly because his ex was in Florida and he was contesting custody of the child. Over a 2 year period, I saw the man several times. He even moved and got remarried in the interim. BTW, he got custody.

Reply by Buddy Young on 1/23/12 12:35pm
Msg #409668

Great information, Marion, thanks.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 1/23/12 12:54pm
Msg #409669

I have done several of these but one time it was not quick and easy! The other party was late to court so they pushed the case to the end of the line. Just something to be aware of when negotiating fee!

Reply by Claudine Osborne on 1/23/12 8:40pm
Msg #409703

Ok..I am niave on this..I have never done one so for myself and other uneducated notaries..Can you tell me who calls and pays you for these depositions and what is a typical fee? Thanks

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 1/24/12 8:57am
Msg #409723

I've had the attorney call to schedule; I've had the

deponent call to schedule; in the case of the attorney he sent my check within a week ($75 - traveled 45 miles to the university - case settled so depo canceled when I sat there); in the case of the deponent, paid on the spot by him - $30.00 for swearing in and traveling 10 miles to him - all for nothing - the court clerk swore him in over the phone!!! - duh! - so I swore him in anyway and handed him a completed certificate for it.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 1/24/12 9:03am
Msg #409725

I have always been called by private parties for these. I price these based on my time and travel, and I don't do these at Starbucks. After getting held up waiting on the party who was late to court, I price these at up to an hour of my time plus travel and the $5 fee I can charge in VA for administering the oath.

Like others have mentioned, you often have to follow up with faxing a copy of your notary commission to the court. As others do, I get payment up front so I can take my leave when my part is over. I did have one time where they did not end up needing me afterall, but I still charged the same because I was hired to be available and whether or not they ended up needing me was irrellevant. However, in that case I would not be entitled to the fee for administering the oath, so you may want to come up with an all-inclusive fee for your time and travel.

Reply by Chris_NJ on 1/24/12 12:42pm
Msg #409735

A long while back I was contacted to do these , and quite frankly I dont remember the details now or why I questioned it, but I did check with the NJ SOS and got a definate no no on doing them in this state. The hiring party also checked (they were from Texas) and called me back to let me know that in fact they were not allowed to do them in NJ. Now things might have changed since then, but if your from NJ you might want to check it out with the sos. just an fyi

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 1/24/12 1:30pm
Msg #409740

New Jersey handbook...page 5

"Notaries may administer oaths and affirmations to public officials and officers of various organizations. They may also administer oaths and affirmations in order to execute jurats for affidavits/verifications, and to swear in witnesses."

http://www.salemcountyclerk.org/files/24_NEWJERSEYNOTARYPUBLICMANUAL.pdf

Reply by NJDiva on 1/25/12 3:26pm
Msg #409862

Thank you Linda. n/m

Reply by NJDiva on 1/25/12 3:39pm
Msg #409863

oops! I never heard of this before until yesterday...

this morning I get a call from the front desk rep at the Sheraton Hotel here in my area saying that they had a guest that needed my services. Thank goodness I had read this post or I wouldn't have had any idea what they were talking about...lol...apparently the guy was here on business but was supposed to stand as a witness in a trial.

I had to wait a half an hour until everyone showed up and they were ready to swear my guy in. I was a little uncomfortable because I had to go up to his room. I was sure to tell the front desk girl that if I wasn't back down in an hour to please call. Once they recorded my info, I was done and out of there. When I went downstairs, she said, I'm glad you stopped by here. In 10 min's I was going to send our concierge up there...lol Anyway, it was awesome! $XX, three miles and a half an hour of my time. I'll take it!

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 1/26/12 11:11am
Msg #409920

I personally would not have gone to his room

I'd have had him arrange with the hotel to use a public but relatively private area to meet and take care of this - once he's sworn in he can go into the bathroom for the testimony for all I care but I wouldn't go to his room.

JMO

Reply by Jayhawk/KS on 1/26/12 11:51pm
Msg #409998

Re: this is what happened to me!

I did a disposition last year. But I had to sit and listen to the whole testimony. One lawyer came up from another state to question 2 people here and I had to swear them in and to sit and listen and make sure there weren't any notes passed! After about 4 hours, there was a note passed, and I thought, oh gosh, we were all on speaker phone, so I just wiggled my finger and they passed the note over to me. One person had written, "How much longer do you think this will take?" The other person had written, "hopefully not much more than 10 minutes!" I passed it back and gave them the ok sign. Personally I was thinking, great, I'm getting really tired of sitting here. At the end, the attorney at the other end, asked if everything went alright- I said, well we did have a note passed between the lawyer and one person! She asked what it said, and I told her and she just laughed and said, ok, that's fine. It was a very long morning, but the pay was nice.


 
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