Of course I'm not a CA notary, but from what I've read (largely in this forum) CA notaries can only make certified copies of POAs they notarized and entries from their notary journals.
At this moment, even without the Vermont COVID emergency rules, I am authorized to make a certified paper copy of an electronic document. I'm only certifying that the paper copy is a true and complete copy of an electronic document which would be further described in the certificate. I'm not certifying whether the electronic document has any validity, or that any signatures that might be present are actually the signatures of who they purport to be.
The reason the Vermont legislature got behind this is that when they passed it, they thought the VT SOS would issue rules promptly to authorize IPEN and RON, but it would be a good decade before VT towns were ready to record electronic real estate documents. So the idea would be to (optionally) notarize a deed electronically and have the notary certify a paper copy of the e-deed. Then the certified paper copy could be accepted for recording.
The reality is the notary advisors in the SOS aren't even showing up for their virtual meetings; heavens knows when the rules will get written.
So in theory a Colorado notary could notarize an e-deed for a Vermont property and the new owner could bring it to me and I could certify a paper copy that could be recorded in VT. In reality, I wouldn't even think about it unless the notary is my niece, who lives in CO and is a lawyer. Even then, I have doubts about certifying a paper copy of a PDF. |
