Let me ask the question with a rather extreme (and obvious fake) example. If the docs showed "Mickey Mouse aka (or spa) John W. Smith", and the signer showed you ID in the name of "John W. Smith", would you say, in your certificate, "... before me, the undersigned, personally appeared MICKEY MOUSE, personally known to me or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the individual(s) whose name(s) is (are) subscribed to the within instrument..."? Of course not, because it was not Mickey Mouse you identified, but John W. Smith. Therefore, your certificate must show who appeared, not who they say they are, but who proved to you who they are. Thus the certificate would need to read, "before me, the undersigned, personally appeared JOHN W. SMITH, personally known to me or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the individual(s) whose name(s) is (are) subscribed to the within instrument ..."
The certificate does make one assumption which must be true, and this the signer must not only sign a MICKEY MOUSE, but also must sign a/k/a or s/p/a JOHN W. SMITH. That is, both names must be a part of the signature. |
