The wording for CA Acknowledgments contains such phrases as “is/are, he/she/they, his/her/their, name{s}, etc”
I was recently dunned by title company for “Acknowledgments have cross offs w/o initialing” in loan package. I crossed out the ones that did not apply.
Has anyone seen this before? Would circling the right one be considered a cross off? I have seen where some notaries leave these untouched {like dual signings}.
Houston
One of the title companies that I work for told me just to leave them be (no cross offs or circles or anything) which is completely against the training I got, but I haven’t had any complaints, so I’m sticking with that recommendation. That being said, when I was originally trained to cross off, I was never told to initial it. If I had to initial it, I think I’d prefer to not even cross them out.
tongue firmly planted in cheek: Maybe certs should say ‘he/her/they, as applicable’.
Problem solved.
I always circle the pronouns. FYI I downloaded a copy of the 2024 handbook and they added a new paragraph to acknowledgments that makes it optional.
Any strike through is required to be initialed. I never do anything to that section. I’ve never had anyone tell me it’s wrong to do nothing.
I was trained to always either strike through the unneeded pronouns or circle those that apply. What I currently do is strike through incorrect and underline the correct pronoun. Have never had an issue.
Loan docs and escrow docs are the purview of the respective drafters. If there is a correction to be made in any of those docs, I get approval from TC to make correction and have borrowers initial that correction. The notarial certificate is the notary’s purview. Neither the title company nor the lender has a say in what legitimizes that cert. It’s up to the notary to know their state’s notary laws and implement them as needed. (jmp&ho)
I expedite a lot of apostilles and since the early 2000’s the clerks at Secretary of State have authenticated thousands of my notarized acknowledgments/Jurats. I am very apprehensive to send in documents notarized by other notaries for several reasons. Their signature might have changed since applying for their commission or for not circling the pronouns. For example, my last personal rejection was for not crossing out the (s) on a Jurat. But unless your notary work is authenticated or recorded those crossoffs don’t matter.
My practice is more like @ewing_joe. When I am performing a notary for apostille I am very attentive to all aspects of the notary statement as it references pronouns, otherwise I don’t cross out or circle.
Is optional. Top of page 12. notary-handbook-current.pdf
