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Screening the Signer

Screening the Signer

Personal Appearance

The signer must personally appear before the notary at the time of the notarial act.

For traditional notarizations, this means that the principal and the notary must be face to face when the notarization takes place.

When performing electronic notarizations for remotely-located individuals, the signer must personally appear before the notary using audio-visual communication technology.

Willingness

The notary must confirm that the signer is acting willingly, out of their own free will.

To confirm that the signer is acting out of their own free will, the notary should ask the signer if they are signing the document willingly. If a signer does or says anything that makes the notary think that the signer is being pressured to sign, the notary should refuse to notarize.

Awareness

The notary must confirm that the signer is aware of what is happening.

To confirm the signer’s awareness, the notary will make a judgement about the signer’s ability to understand what is taking place. A signer who cannot respond intelligibly, or engage in a simple conversation, should not be considered sufficiently aware to sign the document at that moment. If the notarial act is taking place in a medical center, the notary can ask the signer’s doctor for their professional opinion. Otherwise, if the notary doubts the signer’s awareness, the notary should refuse to notarize the document.

Identifying the Signer

When performing a notarization, a notary must obtain satisfactory evidence of the signer’s identity. Satisfactory evidence means the absence of any information, evidence, or other circumstances which would lead a reasonable person to believe that the person signing the document is not the individual that they claim to be.

There are three acceptable methods of identifying a signer:

  1. The notary’s personal knowledge of the signer.
  2. Acceptable ID documents.
  3. The oath or affirmation of a person who is personally known to both the notary and the signer, or the oath or affirmation of two witnesses who personally know the signer and provide acceptable ID documents.

Personal Knowledge

A notary public has personal knowledge of the identity of the principal if the principal is personally known to the notary, through dealings sufficient to provide reasonable certainty that the principal has the identity claimed.

Identification Documents

In order to identify a principal using an ID document, the principal must either:

  1. Present the front and back of their ID card to the notary.
    • Acceptable forms of ID are government-issued, valid at the time of the notarization, and contain the signature and photograph of the individual to be identified.
  2. Present two current documents issued by an institution, business entity, or federal or state government with at least the individual’s signature.

Unacceptable ID Documents

Identification documents that are not acceptable for identifying a signer include Social Security cards, credit cards, temporary driver’s licenses, driver’s licenses without photographs, or birth certificates.

Fraudulent ID Documents

The notary should scrutinize each card for indications that the ID card has been altered, counterfeited, or is a genuine ID card that has been issued to an imposter. Some clues that an ID card may be altered include mismatched type styles, a photograph raised from the surface, a signature that does not match the signature on a document, unauthorized lamination of the card, smudges, erasures, smears, or discolorations.

Credible Identifying Witnesses

If the signer is not personally known to the notary, and is unable to present reliable ID documents, the signer may be identified through the oath or affirmation of one or two credible identifying witnesses.

Every credible witness must personally know the document signer.

If there is only one credible witness to identify the signer, the credible witness must be personally known by the notary public.

If there are two credible witnesses, the witnesses do not need to be personally known to the notary. However, each witness must be identified by an acceptable ID document.

The Oath or Affirmation for Credible Identifying Witnesses

The notary public must administer an oath or affirmation to each credible identifying witness.

An acceptable oath or affirmation might be:

Do you solemnly swear that you know this signer is the person that they claim to be, so help you God?

Do you solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm that you know this signer is this person that they claim to be?

When credible witnesses are used for identification, the names of the witnesses and, if applicable, the type of ID document used to identify the credible witness, must be included in the notary journal.

Signature by Mark

A person who cannot sign their name may instead use a mark as a signature, as long as there are two witnesses to the making of the mark.

The witnesses should sign the document and the notary’s journal. One witness should legibly print the marker’s name in the journal and beside the mark in the document. The mark should also be affixed in the notary journal.

Notarizing for Minors

A person must be 18 before they can handle their own legal affairs and sign documents for themselves. Usually, the minor’s natural or court-appointed guardians will sign on the minor’s behalf. In some cases, where minors are engaged in business transactions or serving as court witnesses, they may legally sign documents and have their signatures notarized.

When notarizing a document for a minor, the notary should ask the signer to write their age next to the signature to alert any person relying on the document that the signer is a minor. The notary is not required to verify the minor signer’s age.

The method for identifying a minor is the same as that for an adult. However, minors usually do not possess acceptable ID documents such as driver’s licenses or passports. If the minor does not have an acceptable ID document, then the other methods of identifying signers, such as personal knowledge or the oath of a credible witness, must be used.