Do you agree with this statement?
“I don’t think it matters if they speak English if you are doing an acknowledgement. You are only acknowledging that the person who signed is who they say they are. If proper Identification is provided that burden has been met if they sign in front of you. For a Jurat I agree because they swear to the facts of the document. If there is a professional interrupter I would notarize a Jurat for someone who does not speak English.”
In FL … Yes, in essence I do agree with it…except for this part
“you are acknowledging they are who they say they are” …
NO!!! You, the notary, are not acknowledging anything …the signers are acknowledging that they are signing of their own free will for the purposes therein contained. Further, for an ack, it does not need to be signed in front of the notary … It can be signed beforehand and the signers then acknowledge it is their signature and they did sign the document
Also, in FL we can use an interpreter for any doc regardless if ack or Jurat
So you would notarize the signature of a person whose language you don’t understand who is signing
a. Documents in English?
b. Power of Attorney for Property?
c. Warranty Deed?
d. Agreement to Give up Custody?
e. Consent to Terminate Parental Rights?
Not unless there is an interpreter present for communication with the signer to ask those questions… “You have reviewed this document, you understand it and you sign this as your free act and deed?”. Or " you swear under penalty of perjury these statements are true to the best of your knowledge and belief?"
Those are some heavy-duty docs … Hope this person is not getting snookered.
I agree with your answer, however, it depends on the State as to whether you can use an interrupter. My State does not allow the use of interrupters. I personally do not notarize documents that are not in English and I refer the requestor to the state database of notaries that shows notaries that are fluent in their language. The reason I won’t notarize documents not in English as my State requires three items a notary to screen for: Identify, Willingness and Competency. If I cannot communicate with the signer (they don’t speak English), I do not believe I can meet these requirements, but there is no state definition or explanation of willingness or competency, and so it is up to the notary’s judgement whether they have been met.
@cvotruba If you don’t mind, would you please amend the title of your thread? It says “non-speaking signer” which is what I expected to read about. Should probably read “non-english-speaking signer”
Thanks much
Yes but you are described a Jurat.
I am talking about a Notary Acknowledgement, where the signer isn’t being asked by me to understand the oath that I am making the Signer take.
But it does say non english speaking.
Maybe someone changed it for me.
When you’re doing an acknowledgement, there IS no oath
And my post addressed both an ack and a jurat
In Virginia, we are required but law to be able to communicate directly with the signer without an interpreter. So, I would disagree with your statement
Ditto. I disagree as well. It depends on the verbiage and your state laws.
If you can not communicate with the communicate directly with the signer without an interpreter you should not complete any notarizations. They could take you to court and say they did not know what they were signing. I refuse all of these jobs.
I personally wouldn’t do it. There is no way to know that they are understanding what they are signing. Use of an interpreter in my state is not allowed. When clients call me for GNW, I always ask on the phone what type of document we will be signing just so i get a feel for if they know what they will be signing when they get here.
These engagements contain more risk that I can tolerate. If English isn’t the signer’s language, I’ll refer them to local colleague who’s better equipped.
In CA, the notary has to be able to communicate with the signer. Also, we can notarize a document in a foreign language as long as the signer understands that language. There is no need for the notary to understand the content of the document since we are not responsible for it. If I am not able to communicate with the signer, I agree with Riverpointe Tax and refer the signer to a notary that can communicate with him.
In Michigan my understanding is no translators because we don’t know what they are telling the signer.
State laws very and so many gray areas, not worth my commission, I would pass, I want to be able to sleep at night.
It says non- English speaking signer
LindaH-FL is right you know, except in California we can’t use an interpreter.
