Posted by Linda_H/FL on 10/13/12 4:54pm
Msg #438458

Notaries....just a reminder...do not give advice

I'm so mad right now I could spit.

We sent papers to a party in North Carolina regarding legal guardianship of a minor child. They were drafted in accordance with the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure and Florida Rules of Judicial Administration regarding reference to minor children in court pleadings in Florida - in other words, to maintain confidentiality, the minor child is referred to only by initials with the date of birth cited as XX/XX/<<full year>>.

The notary that this person went to told her she should NOT sign the papers if they contained just initials...she should sign them only if the name was spelled out. Well, the signer got a lesson in Florida civil procedure.

I hope this notary is a member here, because to that notary I say "Mind you d*** business! Unless you have a law degree, you've overstepped your bounds as a notary. You have no right to review those documents, nor did you have the right toadvise the signer whether to sign or not. You make sure the document has no blanks, identify the signer and notarize, that's it!!".

I'm sorry, but this just irks me - a prime example of a notary trying to be more than they are...and interfering with a process/procedure that they obviously are clueless about. Mind your business, do your job...

Reply by Buddy Young on 10/13/12 6:01pm
Msg #438462

Re: You're exactly right, of course. n/m

Reply by Linda Juenger on 10/13/12 6:04pm
Msg #438463

Re: You're exactly right, of course.

Oh my. Why do people do these things? She needs to have her commission revoked and a good talkin too.

Reply by ikando on 10/13/12 6:15pm
Msg #438466

Sorry for your issues, Linda, but the problem is that a lot of notaries have no clue what their job is!

Reply by dgd/CA on 10/13/12 8:49pm
Msg #438476

OMG... I so hope the stability, and care, of this child has not been compromised. Whenever I learn of a Notary Public doing something such as this, I absolutely cringe. I understand your anger, I raised my older brothers' 3 children, and had this happened to me, I would have been on the right side of "ballistic!"

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 10/13/12 9:02pm
Msg #438477

Thankfully the child is fine - safe and stable

Other issues that I won't go into here...but the child is okay.

The conduct of this notary just bothers the you-know-what out of me. This was totally out of line.

Reply by dgd/CA on 10/13/12 11:41pm
Msg #438484

Like... n/m

Reply by CJ on 10/14/12 12:34am
Msg #438488

I think I see TWO problems here.

I think:
1. We are not supposed to give advice or opinions.
2. We are not supposed to tell people to sign or not sign.

This notary did both.