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Have you ever been asked to ....
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Posted by Serina/VT on 1/12/12 7:27am
Msg #408799

Have you ever been asked to ....

...re emboss copies? I use an embosser not a stamp, as per our notary rules. Sometimes on copies it won't show. Also they want me to print out the copies...hmmmm...advice?

Reply by Shoshana/AZ on 1/12/12 8:02am
Msg #408801

I have heard that some people shade in the embossment (right word?) with a pencil. Is that legal in your state?

Reply by FlaNotary2 on 1/12/12 8:29am
Msg #408805

No way would I do that

It defeats the whole purpose of an embosser - to guarantee that a document is an original. If they want it to show up on copies they can run over it with carbon paper or a pencil edge, but I would not put an original seal on a copied document.

Reply by HisHughness on 1/12/12 11:09am
Msg #408821

Everybody, look for a star in the East

Gotta be one there, because I agree with Robert. A copy is a copy, not a quasi-original.

Although, I have to say, after having read the <further> explanation by the OP, I'm more confused now than I was when we first started out. That seems to be happening more and more nowadays. Was shaving a couple of days ago when I saw this wrinkled, graying, surly guy staring back at me, and I have no recollection whatsoever of taking in a roommate.

Reply by Lee/AR on 1/12/12 11:22am
Msg #408823

Re: Everybody, look for a star in the East

Ummm.... don't think OP did clarify anything. Looks to me to be 2 different posts...just both from Vermont.

Reply by Serina/VT on 1/12/12 3:03pm
Msg #408855

Re: Everybody, look for a star in the East

The title company sent me the entire file, all 135 pages, with all the signatures in place. I don't mind restamping/embossing an original but this is the first time I have been asked this and thought it was a bit odd, which is why I asked for advice. Here's the body of the email.

"Hello there,



You did a closing for us on November 28th - the Lender is requesting that you restamp where your notary seal appears – they cannot read the seal, even when we shade it in. Do you have an alternative seal? Can you please do so and send the documents to me using the enclosed prepaid FedEx label?



Please let me know if you have any questions. "

Well I have questions, but..no one is returning calls or emails so far Smile

Could be they can't read the seal because they had me fax back a ton of pages, which was sprung on me after I completed the appointment and to this day the Signing service hasn't paid the agreed upon extra fee for doing so. They did pay to original fee. Probably faxing flattened the seal too much.

I do like the idea of an inked stamp, but then again that's one extra step to complete

I don't think its proper to stamp a copy either.


Reply by VT_Syrup on 1/12/12 3:14pm
Msg #408857

Vermont seals

Vermont repealed the requirement for a seal, but the Vermont notary manual suggests one for documents going out of state. I went to the library a while back and looked at an old version of the law; it didn't said notaries must use seals, but didn't say what the seals should look like.

There is a current law that applies to all official seals at http://www.leg.state.vt.us/statutes/fullsection.cfm?Title=01&Chapter=003&Section=00133 and it reads:

§ 133. Seal-Official

When a seal of a court, public officer, or corporation is required to be affixed to a paper,
"seal" shall include an impression of the official seal made upon paper alone or by
means of a wafer or wax affixed thereto.

That isn't crystal clear about whether the ink from a rubber stamp would count as an "impression" or not. And don't ask me what they mean by "wafer", I don't have a clue.



Reply by Serina/VT on 1/12/12 3:21pm
Msg #408860

Re: Vermont seals

Vermont also repealed the need for a witness on a mortgage but try sending one back to a title company without one!

I do believe the "impression" is referring to the embosser as think about what kind of mess you'd have trying to stamp some warm wax with an ink one. Last week I closed a purchase where the seller was an attorney in VT. He had done up the deed himself and had his secretary notarize it, she didn't emboss it. I put up a fuss and he stated VT does not require a seal unless the document is leaving the state, and his theory was it was going to be recorded in VT. My theory was, title wanted it embossed..... so she went and found hers.

Reply by VT_Syrup on 1/12/12 3:56pm
Msg #408866

Re: Vermont seals

Unfortunately, a seal is two things: the device, and the result of using the device. So a traditional brass wax seal makes an impression in wax, and the impression is also called a seal. Likewise with embossers and the raised impression in paper. Likewise with stamps and the ink impression on paper.

Reply by dickb/wi on 1/12/12 6:18pm
Msg #408879

i never fax docs..scan & e-mail-much simpler & seals show.. n/m

Reply by Lee/AR on 1/12/12 9:17am
Msg #408813

Don't understand the question. Are these actual 'copies' or a duplicate original/certified copy that they want notarized/embossed? Can't see any reason for notarizing/embossing copies. Re-emboss? Print the copies? What's that about? I'm missing something here.

Reply by VT_Syrup on 1/12/12 9:42am
Msg #408815

If someone wishes to sign and acknowledge two copies of each notarized document, I will do that. It would be so rare I wouldn't bother worrying about it from a fee point of view. I will not use my seal, which is an embosser, except in connection with a complete notarial act. I won't just emboss stuff that has no notarial language and no signatures.

Since I'm not a lawyer, it isn't for me to speculate whether doing this would be of any value to the signer. I can speculate, without saying this to the signer, that having a signed copy with an acknowledgement certificate, might be more convincing than an ordinary copy if the other party swaps out a page and inserts terms more favorable to the other party. If the signer gave me advance notice, I could provide further security by punching a hole through all the pages, securing the pages together with a brass grommet, passing a ribbon through the grommet, putting a foil seal over the ribbon, and embossing it. I understand some lawyers like to do that for wills. The US Patent Office does that for letters patent. I would charge a substantial fee for that, perhaps $100, because I'd have to buy a bunch of equipment that I'd probably only use once.

I recently purchased a stamp inker which I use to make my embosser impression visible.

Reply by BobbiCT on 1/12/12 11:33am
Msg #408826

Notary seal/embossment on photocopies ...

I agree with other posters: don't emboss or put an original seal on a photocopy.

A few years ago, when sending copies to financial institutions, because of one-too-many "where's the seal" questions (backroom clerks with a QC checklist) asking about a state that does NOT require a seal, many law firm environments switched to:

Like our Town Clerks, run a pencil over the raised seal before photocopying, use an embossment inker, or (if law allows) switch to a self-inking embossment stamp. Not only did it end outside questions, it also allows us to have a photocopy with a "seal" on it.


Reply by Lavergne Manuel on 1/12/12 11:47am
Msg #408829

Re: Notary seal/embossment on photocopies ...

In Alabama we are required to use an embosser which I do but I also have a stamp with all the information that is on the embosser plus it has my commission expiration date and I use both the stamp and embosser. If I have to fax somthing, the embosser imprint might not show up but the stamp will and when they get the original, the embosser imprint is there.

Reply by VT_Syrup on 1/12/12 1:43pm
Msg #408844

Re: Notary seal/embossment on photocopies ...

I agree that it would be incorrect for a notary to sign or seal a photocopy, except when the notary is creating a certified copy, the proper certified copy language is present, and the state law authorizes the notary to do so.

However, I view a document as a single entity, however many pages it may contain. If a signer signs the last page with a pen, what was a stack of photocopies instantly becomes an original document, which is eligible for acknowledgement. Of course, one must actually read, or at least skim, the pages to decide which pages belong to one document and which pages belong to a different document.


 
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