Just a comment but I asked the clerk if they convert the journals into digital format somehow. Nope! They keep the books? So what if you die and there aren’t any surviving spouse/siblings? Just wondering outloud. Who they gonna sue?
I also do this as well.
No. Notary Act is not what they mean by e-sign.
skenton, it’s not about suing anyone. The state will still need your journals in case anyone subpoenas your journal for an entry in it. When we die, someone is supposed to take our journals to the county clerk’s office where we gave our oath. I recently had to do this for a friend of mine who died so her daughter wouldn’t have to. I also have it written down with my important papers, for my children, so they know what to do with them, if I’m still a notary when I die.
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In the event one of us pass we can log into each others accounts an export the entire log to PDF to print or had over on a cheap USB.
The export includes all the info you need to record in your log + more if they want it.
Like it stated… not big on adding to risk. I prefer to minimize or eliminate it.
Thanks for posting this. In June 2020, I had my first signing it was a sellers packet with 7 notarial acts. I listed all 7 and had the signer sign in my journal he complained that he never did that before and he only signed once. He was a repeat client for the E.O. So after the signing was over he called the EO and told her how many times he had to sign the journal. I told her I was following state laws and she said just write Real Estate Documents and let them sign one time. So that’s what I do along with putting in the description like Warranty Deed, Deed of Trust, E&O, etc.
I had a Refi the other day with husband and wife that had 17 notarial acts. Thank God I remember what example the EO had given me. It would have taken me forever to write all that in the journal. That would have been 34 times 
So I just put 2 entries husband and wife name and had them sign the journal and listed Real Estate Doc/Title Company Name and listed each document in description. Here in Texas it is illegal to get fingerprint and write down DL# in the journal.
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some states don’t even REQUIRE a journal although always suggested. i do one entry per person. documents…REFI, PURCH, etc. i have only had to go to court one time and it was not even a real estate transaction. BY THE WAY…what saved me in court? was a child custody/guardianship thing… i ALWAYS take pics of driver license on anything having to do with children/family. i let them know that. judge was glad i had done it and threw her accusal of forgery out of the courtroom.
Bad idea 2mkkennedy - if anyone ever requests a copy of the line item proving your notarization you don’t have it - all you have is REFI or PURCH, etc If you can’t provide it and end up getting called into court you can’t prove under oath you notarized the particular document.
I disagree with this practice too - keeping signers’ PII is a dangerous road to travel; you have no need for this - I know if you were my notary and wanted a pic of my ID I’d show you the door. Safer practice if you’re that concerned with identity? Take their thumbprint - no one can identify them by looking at a thumbprint but they can sure identify them if they ever get their hands on the copy of the ID.
JMO and just some friendly advice.
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Calif law is rediculous!! I have been doing signings for 5 years. I just found put my journal is illegal in Calif. I have one sig line with boxes to check off for each notorial act. I took a live NSA class in my state and I purchased my journal and all my supplies thru them. They said it was legal because it has all the reqd info for each line. I am still using the same book after all this time. Sometimes I have up to 5 signers with 10-12 notorial acts. That would have been 60 entries!!! Rediculous. The one hour signing then would end up taking 4 hours and sleepy clients if they waited for ne to fill all those lines.
I had to scan a DL for a client. What’s the problem? Why would you not be comfortable with that?
I think my reasons were pretty clearly stated in my post.
It wasn’t clear that’s why I asked but I digress.
Okay, let me try to clear this up…the person I was responding to said “i ALWAYS take pics of driver license on anything having to do with children/family.”
And I said “I disagree with this practice too - keeping signers’ PII is a dangerous road to travel;”
Taking pics of someone’s ID and having their personal identifying information on your phone (and therefore in the cloud) is dangerous. Always taking pics of someone’s ID is dangerous especially if your state does not require it and is just something you choose to do on your own. And, as I said, if someone wanted a pic of my ID “just because”, then I’d show them the door.
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Not to mention the repetitive thumbprints.
I would imagine that in many cases a deceased notary’s journal is never turned in by their relatives, I’m not sure how this would even be enforced.
How I would scan a driver license for a client:
- Ask client if they have a computer that takes SD or micro SD card; if no, decline the signing.
- Add $70 to my fee.
- Buy micro SD card and adapter to make it fit in a full size SD slot.
- Put the micro SD card in my old hand-held scanner, which has no wifi, no Bluetooth, just the card for storage.
- At the appointment, scan the driver license, take the micro SD out of the scanner, put it in the adapter, give it to the customer.
- Have the customer view the scan on the customer’s computer, and check that it’s OK.
- Staple a copy of the instruction sheet of my scanner in my journal, showing it’s limited capability.
- When I leave, the micro SD and the adapter stay with the customer.