Are you notarizing your own signature?

Notary Experiences
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I hope not. I do not know of a single State where this is acceptable BUT title companies (or signing companies) are constantly asking me to when they say “you can sign as one of the witnesses”. WRONG!!! When you sign as a witness you are notarizing your own signature. If you question this please check with your states Secretary of State. I can only speak for North Dakota but our SoS has made this abundantly clear to us ND notaries.

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2

No you’re not unless your signing a self proving affidavit (like in a will). The notary cert states the names of the signers (in most states)…but even without that no, you are not notarizing your own signature.

Who told you this???

P.S. I just re-read your post…maybe your state doesn’t allow this and their legal dept has determined this but it is not like this across the board. In FL we can be one witness provided we have no vested interest in the transaction or the outcome and we are not named in the document

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3

Often the document locates the Witness Signature section below the Signer(s) location as well as below the Notary Certificate.

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4

To back up LindaH, we handle estate plans in Florida and the Self Proving affidavit is the only doc the notary can’t be one of the witnesses.

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5

So can you charge an extra $5 for your witness signature?! If the answer is no then I guess it’s okay.

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6

LindaH, it came right from the mouth of our States Secretary of State. It’s also in print in our statutes.

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JohnM. That may be true in your State but not here in ND. I wish it were as it would make certain notarizations much simpler for me.

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ewing_joe. I do charge for providing witnesses when a signing company asks. I get $20.00 per and give it to the witness for their time.

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Thanks Bob - I realized that after I re-read your post - hence my P.S…

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I can be the Notary AND THE WITNESS in Florida.

Read this:

Generally, a notary public may sign as one of the witnesses and as the notary public on a document. … In addition, a Florida court has held that “there is nothing to prevent a notaryfrom also being a witness.” See Walker v.

[image]

http://notaries.dos.state.fl.us › faq

Question and Answer - Notary Education - Florida Department of State

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11

Exactly right. Generally, a notary public may sign as one of the witnesses and as the notary public on a document. … In addition, a Florida court has held that “there is nothing to prevent a notaryfrom also being a witness.” See Walker v.

[image]

http://notaries.dos.state.fl.us › faq

Question and Answer - Notary Education - Florida Department of State

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Generally, a notary public may sign as one of the witnesses and as the notary public on a document. … In addition, a Florida court has held that “there is nothing to prevent a notaryfrom also being a witness.” See Walker v.

[image]

http://notaries.dos.state.fl.us › faq

Question and Answer - Notary Education - Florida Department of State

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Thanks petefoster1983. I wondered why the signing companies were so surprised at my refusal but as I said in North Dakota I could loose my license if I acted as a witness and the notary.

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This is entirely dependent on your State’s Notary Laws. In Texas Notaries are no permitted to notarize any document to which they are a party. I have a Texas Title company that’s fuming mad as I’ve refuse to self-notarize the notary information sheet. They’re reasoning is ‘it’s only for internal purposes only’. I’ve had to remind them I’m not putting my Commission as risk to meet their internal processes. You’d think a Texas Title company would know this.

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exeternotary, that is exactly the way I feel about it: “I’m not putting my Commission at risk”.

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16

Same for South Carolina, we can act as one of the witnesses as well.

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sustainabledatamanagement, in a way I kind of like ND’s law that we can not, it just takes a little bit more relief off of the possibility of fraud and I’m sure it has some effect on our insurance rates as well (liability & E&O).

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Here in Florida the notary can be a witness. You are NOT notarizing the witness signatures only the signer. Otherwise the witness signatures would have to be included in the notarization. I verified that with the NNA.

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Thank you LindaKauffman. It would be nice if things were more uniform across the States but it seems to be very different from State to State. Here in ND we are also notarizing the witnesses signature.

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In WA state, it depends on how the notary certification is written. If it is written to include witnesses, then you cannot be a witness signer. If it is written to only include the testator, then you can sign as one of the witnesses and act in capacity as the notary as well.

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