Yesterday i visited a customer I hadn’t seen in a while. I had to cross out Massachusetts’s notarial language in a simple document since it included capacity of signer’s title and LLC name.
I affixed a California Certificate and then listed the capacity issue in the information section outside notary language. Unfortunately, the Massachusett’s Registrar rejected it! My customer said he had to redo it online at Massachusett’s preferance. They really needed to resend a corrected version instead.
This issue seems to be a means of harming California notary businesses and making money for online notaries. States rejecting CA certificates harms notary businesses.
Recordable document? If it was, why would you submit a California acknowledgment? If it’s OK to cross out the venue, then it’s also OK to cross out anything else that doesn’t comply. Online notaries blow up the whole theory though since we can’t do online here in California yet notaries from other states can do what they want.
The customer asked me to notarize a simple document. I added my certificate due to the capacity law requirement from Mass. added
The customer said they rejected my certificate. It wasn’t explained to me why my certificate was rejected but the customer told he was asked by them to use an online notary.
If you want to know, you should call the Massachusetts Registry.
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Show MA this:
Civil Code § 1189. (a) (1) Any certificate of acknowledgment taken within this state shall be in the following form:
State of California
County of __________
On ______________________________________________ before me,
(here insert name and title of the officer) ,
personally appeared __________________________________ _ , who proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the
person(s) whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged to me that he/she/they executed the same in
his/her/their authorized capacity(ies), and that by his/her/their signature(s) on the instrument the person(s), or the entity upon behalf of
which the person(s) acted, executed the instrument.
I certify under PENALTY OF PERJURY under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing paragraph is true and correct.
WITNESS my hand and official seal.
Signature ____________________________________________ (Seal)
(2) A notary public who willfully states as true any material fact that he or she knows to be false shall be subject to a civil penalty not
exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000). An action to impose a civil penalty under this subdivision may be brought by the Secretary
of State in an administrative proceeding or any public prosecutor in superior court, and shall be enforced as a civil judgment. A public
prosecutor shall inform the secretary of any civil penalty imposed under this section.
(b) Any certificate of acknowledgment taken in another place shall be sufficient in this state if it is taken in accordance with the
laws of the place where the acknowledgment is made.
(c) On documents to be filed in another state or jurisdiction of the United States, a California notary public may complete any
acknowledgment form as may be required in that other state or jurisdiction on a document, provided the form does not require the
notary to determine or certify that the signer holds a particular representative capacity or to make other determinations and
certifications not allowed by California law.
Maybe just lining thru that part would have worked???
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Joe,
Online notaries must comply with the laws of the state in which they are appointed—they cannot simply do as they please.
Problem is Massachusetts Notary Law specifically states that an out-of-state certificate is acceptable providing it complies with Massachusetts notary laws,
Don’t shoot the messenger - I looked it up real quick and found that information from the Mass government site. I did not compare the two certs (I’m aware of CA restrictions) - I didn’t copy the site as I’m sure Cheryl can find that info if she so chooses.
That is interesting… MA hasnt approved the use of Remote online notary (RON) in the state for us notaries to use, but they are telling the MA residents to use RON? All I can do is laugh.
Sorry not relevant to your specific topic Cheryl. Im sorry that you had to experence this. Seems unreal.
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