Not necessarily. Some states don’t allow their notaries to sign as both notary and witness - I would not turn down the assignment - I’d take it but just stress to the signers that they need to have two witnesses present.
2 Likes
Interesting point of view. Recently I updated the posted topic, with an article written by NNA on a Notary Public and witnessing. It’s a great read…
LindaH-FL, I totally agree with you of letting the signer(s) that two witnesses will be required. Most of the times the signer(s) will comply, but if they don’t I just remove myself.
Florida property requires 2 witnesses no special instructions needed. It’s the notary’s responsibility to inform the signers of that requirement at the initial contact. Then if you actually ship the signed documents back without those signatures, yes you’re obviously not qualified to be trusted with even the easiest assignments.
ewing_joe, Thank you for input. The refinance of a mortgage in Florida doesn’t necessarily require any witnesses, unless it is requested by the hiring company. The case I was discussing, the hiring company instructions didn’t state witness(es) were required. If the document was a “deed”, such as a Deed of Trust or Quit-Claim Deeds, etc, in the state of Florida those documents involve an exchange of real estate property ownership, which does require witnesses. Being quick to make judgement of someone qualifications, only expose one’s shortcomings.
1 Like
cfletcher, you’re mistaken if you took my answer personally. I believe it’s good practice to not leave blank spaces on a document, for example, witness signatures. I guess a good excuse might be that another attorney who is also a notary thought it was a bad idea for the notary who witnessed the signer signing the document to also be one of the two required witnesses but that’s not a reason to not to actually find the witnesses required to record the document.
ewing_joe, No mistake on my part. As for leaving blank spaces on a document that has to be notarized, that would fall under Florida Notary Statutes - prohibited acts section 117.107 - “(10) A notary public may not notarize a signature on a document if the document is incomplete or blank. However, an endorsement or assignment in blank of a negotiable or nonnegotiable note and the assignment in blank of any instrument given as security for such note is not deemed incomplete.” Since I am not an attorney, if legal counsel advise me not to act as a public citizen and public official when notarizing a document. I will always defer to the legal counsel guidance. Would it be okay if we agree to disagree on this topic.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.