For those of you who have the occasion to require Notarial services,
we’d like to remind you that we are located next door to Vivace in Belmont at
1940 Ralston Avenue in the RE/MAX Star-Carlmont office.
We can perform any Notarial Services as allowed by law. What
is not allowed? Many people are confused as to the purpose of a Notary.
A Notary Public is an official of integrity appointed by state government–typically by the secretary of state to serve the public as an impartial witness in performing a variety of official fraud-deterrent acts related to the signing of important documents. These official acts are called notarizations or notarial acts. Notaries are publicly commissioned as administerial officials, meaning that they are expected to follow written rules without the exercise of significant personal discretion, as would be the case with a judicial official.
Impartiality is the byword of the Notary office and the foundation of its public trust. Notaries are duty-bound not to act in situations where they have a personal interest. The public trusts that the Notary’s critical screening tasks have not been corrupted by self-interest. And impartiality dictates that a Notary never refuse to serve a person due to race, nationality, religion, politics, sexual orientation or status as a non-customer.
As official representatives of the state, Notaries Public certify the proper execution of many of the life-changing documents of private citizens — whether those diverse transactions convey real estate, grant powers of attorney, establish a prenuptial agreement, or perform the multitude of other activities that enable our civil society to function.
We’re surprised how many people request Notarial services but don’t
know what type of Notarial act they need. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to
offer advice as to which type of Notarial act is to be performed therefore you
must ask whomever is requesting that a document be notarized, which act is
required. The most common one by far is an Acknowledgment followed by a Jurat.
Acknowledgments:
The form most frequently completed by the notary public is
the certificate of acknowledgment.
The certificate of acknowledgment must be in the form set
forth in Civil Code section 1189 [see below].
In the certificate of acknowledgment, the notary public
certifies:
That the
signer personally appeared before the notary public on the date indicated in
the county indicated;
To the identity of the signer; and That the signer acknowledged executing [signing] the document.
Acknowledgment information
An acknowledgment is a notary act where the signer acknowledges
signing a document before a notary public. The act of presenting a signed document before a notary public and asking the notary public to notarize the signature constitutes acknowledging signing the document. The document may be signed before being in the presence of the notary, however, the signer must appear before the notary public to sign the notary journal and receive the affixation of the notary seal on the notary certificate.
This is the new wording for a California acknowledgment
certificate
State of _____________
County of ____________
On_________ before me,
________________________________________,
(name of notary public )
personally appeared
_____________________________________________
who proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the
person(s)
whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument and who
acknowledged
to me that he/she/they executed the same in their authorized
capacity(ies),
and by his/her/their signature(s) on the instrument the
person(s), or entity
upon behalf of which the person(s) acted, executed the
instrument.
I certify under PENALTY of PERJURY under the laws of the state
of California
that the foregoing paragraph is true and correct.
WITNESS my hand and official seal.
____________________________ (Signature of
Notary) Once again many documents are brought to us for notarization but the wording is incorrect. We’re surprised that many documents prepared by attorneys, such as trusts, and loan documents prepared by major lending institutions which still lack the correct Notarial wording. In cases like this we can still notarize a document but we must attach a Loose Certificate that contains the proper language. It is illegal for a notary to notarize a document without the proper language.
Examples of Acknowledgement might be a request for an original birth
certificate, a deed of trust for a home, or any document where you just need a
Notary to verify that you signed a document.
JURATS
Jurat information
A Jurat is a type of notary act where the signer must swear under oath before
a notary public. Jurat certificate wording must accompany all Jurat notary acts
either within the document itself, after the signature area(s), or on an attached
[Loose] certificate form. An example of where a Jurat might be used instead of a
The new California Jurat requires the signer to be positively identified.
A Jurat no longer allows the signer to be identified on the basis of being
personally known to the Notary. Here is the new California Jurat wording:
State of _____________
County of ___________
Subscribed and sworn to ( or affirmed ) before me on
this ____________ day of _____________, 20___ by
____________________________________________________, proved to me on the basis
of satisfactory evidence to be the person who appeared before me.
___________________________
( Signature of Notary )
Once this is complete, the affiant [you] are given an oath
wherein you swear that what you declared to be true is in fact true, under penalty
of perjury.
An example of where a Jurat might be used instead of an
Acknowledgment is where you are swearing that the content of a letter are true
for example, as opposed to using an Acknowledgment just to verify that your
signature is valid.
By California state law, a Notary may only charge $10.00 per
Notarized signature. However, there is no limit on what they can charge for
travel expenses should they need to come to an off-site location.
Call us ahead of time to arrange for Notarial services if
you need them (650) 508-1441 or cell
(650) 464-7654.
The information contained in this article is educational and intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute real estate, tax or legal advice, nor does it substitute for advice specific to your situation. Always consult an appropriate professional familiar with your scenario.
