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Posted by JanetK_CA on 7/30/22 6:57pm
This is especially for California notaries, but I seriously doubt we're the only ones...
I got a call from an acquaintance I've known for decades to notarize some docs for him and his wife to get rid of a timeshare they no longer use. (Some of you already know where this is going...) The document originators are from another state, and there were three forms needing signatures notarized, including a Grant Deed taking their name off title.
So here's the catch... The company's process is to get these deeds signed off before they know who the new owner is going to be, so the Grantee line was blank. I don't know about your state, but CA notary law very explicitly states that we cannot notarize incomplete documents. [Govt Code 8205(2): "A notary public may not accept any acknowledgment or proof of any instrument that is incomplete."]
It's pretty obvious to me that a critical detail on a critical, recordable document was missing, so we call their contact person who says (all together now...) "I've done hundreds of those in California and no one has ever told me that before..." Yeah, right! (As if that matters to me.) If their process hinges on a notary breaking the law, it's not my problem. My signature on that notary certificate would mean that my rear end is the only one on the line for liability - or even worse - if something went south with that document.
Fortunately, my friends were very understanding, but this created an inconvenience for them which they hired me to avoid. So now they have to trek out to their bank, UPS, the Auto Club, etc. to try to find a notary who doesn't know any better.
The lesson, of course, is to never take cues or advice from what a third party tells you "everyone else" does or has done! I wish I had $100 for every time I've run into this... 
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