Correcting a Notarial mistake

I was told that one of my Acknowledgements (a few days ago) was incorrect and that I needed to issue another one with the correction on it.

So I brought in the original docs and created a new certificate (with the current date on it) but the borrower would not sign the docs because it would delay funding and wanted me to back date the certificate. To make it short, the SS & the title company tried to get me to back-date the certificate but I refused. I explained that it would be crime to knowingly create and stamp a certificate I new to be false. The SS & the title company tried to convince me with arguments such as “we have several experienced notaries who say you can back-date the certificate because you made a mistake on the first one”, the title company even thru in the argument that it was ok to backdate the certificate because my boss (the SS) told me to do so.

I stood my ground and they (the SS) told me to leave. Later, I called the Secretary of State (California) Notary division and was informed that I was indeed correct you cannot back-date a notary certificate.

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Indeed you can’t backdate…the date of the cert is the date your feet are planted in front of the signer. The only point I’ll make here is, you said acknowledgement; the signers did not have to sign again - all they had to do was acknowledge that they did, in fact, sign the document, that it was their signature, and they signed it willingly (or for the purposes therein contained, whatever language was used). The only time they sign again is in the case of a Jurat.

Good call Dan - and good on you standing your ground!

Well done! Lots of signing companies, etc will lie. Always stand your ground.

Couldn’t you just correct your acknowledgment? What am I missing?

I believe California is like Florida - notaries can’t just “correct” their certificates after the notarization has been completed - it requires a revisit to the signers with the original document and a re-acknowledgement with the current date (and a re-sign of the document if a jurat).

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I see. Thank you for your response.

Did you actually make a mistake? Did they show you the error? Because I have been told this before but there was no mistake on my part. And it doesn’t matter who made the mistake, the end result is still the same, a new certificate needs to be issued. I’ts hard to stand your ground. Glad to hear you did the right thing.

Yes I did indeed make a mistake and did everything I could to correct it. I told the borrower that I would be available to notarize anything she needed without charge so she could get some funding during the rescission 3 day period.

I’m in Texas. Will missing a stamp on an Affidavit of Identity (lender doc) cause a complete document package re-sign? Or just that affidavit? NNA agent said I can correct the original, even days later. Is that correct? Also, this was a duplicate in the package. For some reason, there were two of them, slightly different formats but basically identical. I was asked to stamp an attached email copy, which is wrong.
I did not do that. How do I correct it properly? Please help!

Interesting that NNA told you that - here’s what I found - by NNA

" Fixing a mistake after the signer and document are gone is more challenging. First, you’ll need to confirm that your state allows you to correct a notarial certificate after the notarization. If you are in a state where the law requires the certificate to be completed contemporaneously with the notarization, such as Texas , you may be out of luck. In this case you won’t be able to correct the mistake without getting the parties together to re-notarize the documents."

I would say, to answer your questions, I would not think it would require a complete package re-sign; you were right not to stamp the email copy IMO; and since it’s an Affidavit I believe it’s treated differently than an ack where people just look at the signed doc and say “yes that’s my signature” and acknowledge they signed it; here in FL they’d have to re-sign the document.

MHO this instance requires a re-visit to the people with the document, re-sign that document and you notarize in front of them with current date. Then your journal entry

Hopefully someone from TX will chime in and say TX is a bit more lenient - I hope so for your sake.