Firstly, thank you for your time. Secondly, I apologize if this question has already been asked and answered… I couldn’t find it in my search. I have a client who wants a document notarized with the recipient’s section of the document left blank so he can send it to different recipients as needed. I informed him that the document needs to be complete for notarization. He said a previous notary had notarized the same document as is, in 2022 and even sent me a copy of it with the recipient’s information left blank. Am I the one mistaken?
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What is the doc title? What’s it for? Why is there a ‘recipient’??? (This is particularly odd…something that must be notarized that has multiple potential 'recipents?)
Hard to figure out right or wrong with no info.
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Thank you Arichter. It is a Common Law Copywrite Notice that the individual plans to forward to multiple entities now and in the future that are in violation.
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Sounds like the nonsense produced by the sovereign citizen movement. Ghost the requester and under no circumstances give the requester any contact information they don’t already have.
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Tanasha, is it a notice that is to be signed/notarized by different signers in different locations?
If so, then maybe it is not so nefarious. It is not uncommon to notarize the signature of one signer on a loan document for example and then the loan document gets sent to the other signer to be signed/notarized before another local notary.
You would confirm identity of signer, same as always, and make clear in your notarial certificate and notary journal that only ONE SIGNER is before you signing the document.
Anyone else want to weigh in?
p.s. I am in Washington state. And also kudos to you for trying to research for the info first. Not everyone takes the time to do it.
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Not necessarily, Ashton.
Whenever I pick up a hint that a signing is related to so-called sovereign citizens, I try to disappear. They’re too dangerous to take a chance with. If I ghost someone that doesn’t deserve it, tough.
LOL so be it, Ashton.
FWIW: google the form. The one I saw didn’t have a ‘recipient’ line. Maybe it’s sort of like providing a copy of a notarized but unrecorded POA??? I dunno. Copywrites seem to be a big legal can of worms. Also saw a ‘Notice of Copywrite infringement’ but that didn’t need notarization. Long, long ago there was a post on maybe this forum by a notary who used a copywrite drawing of a pen on her website and received a demand for payment for its use.
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What State are you in? Check your states handbook and see if it specifies. California stated everything must be filled in, but I am not sure if it is true today. Each state has their own handbook. You should be able to view it online.
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Thank you all for your input. I’m in Texas and yes, my understanding is everything must be filled out in order to be notarized. This is just a one-page document with one signer and one notarial certificate. I guess my concern other than the recipient information being left blank at notarization, is the purpose of it being left blank. Once notarized the client wants to be able to insert different recipients’ information and send out at his discretion. There could be several documents out there with my signature and seal that he would add information to after notarization, and furthermore, I would have no record of them in my journal.
Ashton, I actually think you are right. I have worked with this client for a couple of months. This was the first document missing information but as I went back over our previous sessions after your comment, there were several indications of the sovereign citizen theory in his other documents. Thank you for advising me so I could research it.
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Thank you for clarifying.
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Hello Tanisha1,
You don’t know me because I don’t think I have ever posted here before. I have been a notary since 2006, and I have handled more than 9,100 signings. I have had people try to get over on me many times.
The way I see it, there are essentially 2 questions you have to answer: 1), Am I being asked to do something I can’t do as a notary, and 2), Do I have an ethical objection to the job?
If he merely wants you to notarize his signature, then I don’t see why blank areas in the document should matter to the notary. As a notary, I would not care about the purpose of the document nor who it is meant for, or even whether for a specific person.
Ashton seems convinced that this relates to the sovereign citizen movement. Personally, I would not help any people who are out to hurt others, but from what I have seen online, sovereign citizens are merely idiots. I don’t think they are terrorists or supremacists, so I wouldn’t even pay that any mind.
Naturally, you NEVER notarize the signature of someone you have not met with, so no document can be ambiguous with regard to who you notarized.
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Hi, am i understanding they want you to notarize a document with a blank no named person? So who is signing since you CAN NOT, under no circumstances notarize a no signature doc! If they are signing why would it (recipients) be blank? Are you saying that they want you to notarize a document that can be used for their own purposes to anyone across the country, that you didnt meet, in person or online?
My advice is when in doubt say no!
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If you are only notarizing the signature of the party in front of you, I would most likely do it, but would read the whole doc carefully and make sure ‘another not present person’s’ name could no way be inserted into my Certificate after the fact. (I kind of view this as similar to a POA–often whoever needs a copy for their records is NOT, in fact, named as a recipient.)
By the way, the correct spelling is “copyright”, because the person who holds the copyright has the right to make copies of the work. I’m not suggesting Tanisha1 copied the title of the document incorrectly; I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the person who composed the form spelled it incorrectly.
We are all used to glancing at emails to see if they’re full of misspellings, and if we see that, we suspect it’s a scam. I’m tempted to take the same attitude toward documents presented for notarization.
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OMG! The world is coming to an end for grammar and spelling nerds. It’s copyright, not copywrite, despite the error being repeated in most of the replies. Spell check doesn’t guarantee the usage is correct, but in this case Spellcheck flagged copywrite every time on my computer. I admit to being one of the nerds, but please “ewes Spellcheck”. Clarity is compromised by incorrect grammar and spelling, maybe not in this instance but it’s a slippery slope.
Hi,
Do not do it. Doesn’t matter what another person notarized.
It is not advisable to notarize a document with missing information.
Sounds like that sovereign citizen mess. You don’t want to get mixed up with that nonsense.
You might consider an all purpose acknowledgemrnt
Attached to the doc covers the one signer in front of you
Other signers to be notarized in front of their notary
Did u check your state law?
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