So I started working with a new title company. They sent me a Refinance Package yesterday to close today. The acknowledgments didnt have the correct NEW Florida wording, BUT I have new stamps with correct wording. I lined the acknowledgments/jurat in the docs and stamp them with correct wording, and notarized.
They were very happy for the stamp, BUT they were not happy that I wrote the whole name of the borrower. His name is (writing a fake name as an example): Erick Daniel Garcia, but all the docs said Erick D Garcia. Arent we supposed to write and correct the preprinted names to what the ID says? OR we can still notarize if the name is abbreviated?
Also, the package had the Name/Signature Affidavit which had the whole name printed, but I always correct my Acknowledgments to whole name.
Different notaries have different views. I have never seen anyone post, in any of the popular notary forums, a law or official rule from any state that specifies exactly what to do if the name printed in the document does not exactly match the name on the ID.
The law in Vermont, for acknowledgements, says
(a) Acknowledgments. A notary public who takes an acknowledgment of a record shall determine, from personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence of the identity of the individual, that the individual appearing before the officer and making the acknowledgment has the identity claimed and that the signature on the record is the signature of the individual.
(The wording for verifications under oath and signature witnessing are virtually the same)
As I read the Vermont law, if someone comes to me and presents me with a document with the name “Erick D Garcia” printed in it, and acknowledges he signed it, my job is first to verify it’s his signature. I can do this by having him sign my journal and comparing the signatures, or sign the document (again, if necessary). The next is to verify that he has a right to use the name “Erick D Garcia”. As far as I’m concerned, a person with a driver license that says “Erick Daniel Garcia” has shown me sufficient proof that he has the right to use the name “Erick D Garcia”, so I will write "“Erick D Garcia” in the acknowledgement certificate.
I always copy the name from the document to the acknowledgement certificate, exactly. If the name on the ID is different enough from the name in the document that I’m unsure if both names refer to the same person, I will ask the signer to show additional ID that satisfies me, or produce a credible witness. Otherwise I won’t perform the notarial act.
I have a California Title Company , wanting me to notarize a MTG with their Notary Verbiage! A mail away closing, one of the borrowers here in Florida. They don’t wAnt me attaching a Acknowledgment with the new wording or correcting the Lenders document verbiage. What should I do?
You should post a new question. The people reading the forum don’t necessarily read every post. The subject line of the post should give a brief version of your question, so that readers who think they might have something to offer will read it. Some people who know about out-of-state certificates might not pay any attention to “Names on the Certificate”.
That said, you can’t use the California certificate, and you have to reach an agreement with the hiring party about what to do. If they won’t agree to using a Florida-compliant certificate, you’ll have to decline to undertake the assignment.
