Hi all! I am a certified California Notary Public. Somebody reached out to me asking for notorizing an original transcript for a foreign student. They said that the student is going to sign in front of me and has to get 2 signatures notorized. Firstly, I have never seen somebody getting an original copy notorized and secondly California notories can notoroze only copies of power of Attorney and a copy of their journal. But if you want to certify a copy of an academic record, as a notary you have to perform a jurat and take a form called copy certification by document custodian. Am I right? Should I take this up? I am a little confused, what to do? Please guide. Thanks. Neha.
Hello fellow notaries! I have been approached to notorize an original transcript for academic purposes. The transcript will be sent to spain. The person requesting the notarization mentioned that they need 2 signatures to be notarized on the original document. I am aware that california notaries cannot notarize copies of transcripts. Could someone please clarify if I can notorize the original transcript and what the two signatures might be for? Any advice or insights on the proper procedure to follow would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Neha.
I have no idea what the person asking for your services has in mind.
In the past, there were worthless “universities” who would award degrees for substantial sums of money, and little or no academic work. They would then arrange to get the transcript notarized (not sure exactly how) and apostilled. Sometimes unwary recipients of the transcript would think that because it was apostilled, it must be a valid degree.
As a response to this abuse, some states have tightened up their apostille process, making it stricter for transcripts and degrees than for most other documents. You’d have to look at the California SOS web pages or contact them to see if they have special requirements.
If somebody asked me to do something like this, I would go to the university and notarize the signature of the registrar. I would not be willing to notarize the signature of the student.
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No. Don’t do it. It’ll come back to bite you.
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First of all, California Notaries can only certify line item entries in their sequential journal and copies of powers of attorney. For example, you inspect the original, then compare it to the copy. If you’re satisfied attach a California Copy Certification of Power of Attorney. (Probate code 4307) I journal the act even though the “signer” doesn’t sign the document.
Now to your question. First read the California Code, Government Code 8202.
A copy certification can be a handwritten or preprinted certificate that contains a jurat with an Affiant’s statement swearing or affirming the validity of an attached copy of a document.
I have notarized thousands of these documents.
(note) This can be abused. For example while noodling around the internet I discovered an apostille service (not located in California) that any client can email a document to them and one of their employees swears to the copy which they notarize and submit to the SOS for apostille.
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My experience with this request is to never send the original. But if you did, you would still need someone with authority to certify the signatures with a California Jurat with Affiant Statement.
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