Agreed. I administer the oath on every jurat but have stopped requiring signers to raise their right hand based on seasoned Notaries instructions.
funny …I get the same thing… I do it on every job usually once for the mortgage…I always tell the client see read this its right there I need a verbal…
i do a lot of helocs so on the mortgage signing it is very clear
Happened to me last night. They also said they have re-financed before many times and only ever done one thumbprint. SMH.
Get that all the time. I was starting to think that I am the only one that makes people take an oath. I have them take the oath right after I see and verify the IDs Very simple "Please raise your right hand By signing these documents you are taking an oath, you are swearing to me that you are the people named in the documents and you are the rightful owners of the property Please say yes. Simple !! Then as we are signing and get to an oath I let them know that this is a document you previously swore to.
This is not the oath required - not sure where you got this wording but this does not address the various affidavits in the package and the issues they are swearing to. I have never heard of making signers swear to such a thing…not to mention telling them how to answer (“Please say yes”).
Sorry…all due respect…completely disagree with this
sorry you disagree with my wording but I am not going to add God in it due to religious differences. I have done this for over 30 years and had many people ask if I worked for the court systems that it was very official. Please tell me your version. I’m always up to learning something different.
God has nothing to do with it -
And the oath has nothing to do with them being the owners of the property
'You swear the statements contained herein are true to the best of your knowledge and belief?"
"You acknowledge you are signing this as your free act and deed for the purposes therein contained
Refer to your notary handbook for proper oath wording.
P.S. I see you’re in FL - here from the previous handbook…
"An oath or affirmation is administered to a document signer when the signer is required to make a sworn statement about certain facts. The signer personally appears before you to swear (or affirm) to you, an officer duly appointed to administer oaths, that the information contained in the document is true. "
For an Ack:
“To take an acknowledgment, the document signer must personally appear before you, the notary public, and declare that he or she has signed the document voluntarily. You should ensure that the signer understands the document and has not been coerced into signing. If there is any question about the signer’s willingness to execute the document or his or her understanding of the contents of the document, you should refuse to notarize and perhaps refer the person to an attorney for legal advice. You may want to ask the signer, “Do you acknowledge that this is your signature and that you are executing this document of your own free will?””
Hope this helps
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“I, (names of the parties), do swear that the information I have provided in the documents placed before me today is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, and that I have signed said documents with no intent to mislead or defraud.”
“Please provide a verbal response.”
Why make it so formal? If it is à Jurât, I just ask them to review the document and tell them that by signing, they are swearing that each statement on the document is true and accurate. I have them read it so they understand what it is they are swearing. We are not in court.
FYI I’m in FL.
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FL here too - I just did one yesterday - my first appointment since before Covid - identified signer, filled out my journal then went like this:
“Mr. Doe, have you reviewed this document? (yes) You’ve read it over and understand it’s contents and purpose? (yes) And you swear the statements contained in this document are true and correct to the best of your knowledge and belief? (I do)” - signed, sealed and delivered.
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A friend of mines said that the county clerk didn’t even swear her in.
In my state you have the option to require an oath or affirmation. The oath actually is calling upon God to act as a witness. The affirmation is a statement that you will be bound by the civil law of perjury. I have dispensed with oaths unless someone asks to take one. I got bawled out by an atheist for asking for an oath early in my career and decided that the affirmation is the way to go. I have seen both opinions on whether to take a general statement for the entire closing or one for each document. Our handbook recommends one for each document, but the requirement is not mandated by statute, nor is the script of the oath/affirmation determined by statute. Our notary laws have not changed much since the nineteenth century when it comes to this issue, even though the statutes have changed significantly especially with regard to RON. It is really up to the notary public to judge if they have met the requirements. My thinking is that too much of a thing is usually better than too little and I still take a statement for each document.
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Not all states legally require the ceremonial formalities of administering an oath or affirmation.
I live in PA. We have no such requirements for any kind hand-raising/placing your hand over your heart nor any official verbiage (“do you solemnly swear…”) that we must use when administering an oath/affirmation. Some states have required verbiage, CA I think(?), but we don’t.
PA only specifies that we “require the individual taking the oath or affirmation to voluntarily swear or affirm that the statements contained in the oath or affirmation are true”. That could be as simple as “Do you affirm that the statements contained within this document are true and correct?”.
To be completely honest, if I was refinancing and the notary made me raise my right hand/swear to god 8-10+ times during the signing, I’d be pretty frustrated. I have a million other things to do, I’m not religious, and I don’t want to waste time on fluffy ceremonial nonsense. I’m not saying to break the notarial law in your state, absolutely do what is required of you in your state. But 9/10 signers do not want to be bothered with unnecessary pomp and circumstance. We shouldn’t go overboard and waste peoples’ time, IMO.
There is no requirement that an oath must be performed in a court. The jurats clearly state that the jurat is an affidavit that requires the Notary Public to issue an oath. It is that simple. What are you afraid of by refusing to issue the oath? It is a legal requirement in Florida and California, and I would imagine in any other state that commissions notaries public. I record in my journal every time I put someone under oath, or affirmation that I did so. I have never, more than 2,000 notarizations, had someone refuse to be put under an oath (or affirmation for those who do not like oaths) for notary purposes. Some times a signer will tell me that this is the first time a notary has put them under oath, so I point out the wording in the jurat. That solves any issues. Personally, I would think that making a decision for the signer would be the same as practicing law, you are giving advice. If someone objects to the oath for religious reasons, I use the “affirmation” which places them under the penalty of perjury. Just keep in mind that a verbal recital of the oath or affirmation is clearly required as well as the verbal answers to the recital. Check your notary laws for the state you are in to see the penalties for not administering the oath or affirmation. Check all of the notary associations. For the commenter who thinks it is a waste of time, or that is silly, remember, it is the legal responsibility of the notary to do this. If your signer(s) are not religious, then use the affirmation. Simple.
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Not all states require a thumbprint. But yes, I think all Signing Agents should make sure to do their duties…
You can make a general oath worded right to be taken once to cover all jurats needed.
I realize that this is a little late in the game, but I wanted to add my thoughts. I realize that every state is different…I am in Texas. When I first started doing this, I asked a Notary friend if she does the Oaths. She does not. She thinks they are weird. I used to work with a number of Attorneys (from a number of different specialties) and decided to ask their opinions…I asked 5 of them.
To a person, they all said, “Do the Oath”. One of them, a professor and close friend delivered a 15 minute lesson on why I should, every time, for every document, to not do a mass Oath and demanded that to protect myself, I NEEDED to do it. I say something almost identical every time…(Asking them to raise their Right hand), Do you swear or affirm that the statements made (or information provided) in the ‘name of document’ is/are true to the best of your knowledge, so help you? I hold my hand up until I receive a verbal response, a “Yes”, or an “I Do” not an “uh huh” or anything else. Then I move on. I do this for every document that requires a Jurat - one document at a time, no exceptions. I do not include ‘So help you god’ as a normal matter of practice. I do not make any assumptions that my Signers believe in a, multiples or a higher power of any kind…having them swear or affirm, leaving it to their own ethics is sufficient by my understanding. I have had a few that asked about the ‘So help you god’ part and upon request or inquiry, I will add it for them, but find it unnecessary.
At the beginning of every Signing, I provide a list of every document that I am Notarizing (Notary Journal) and separate Acknowledgments and Jurats. I specifically point out and make reference to the Jurats and let the Signers know that these are the documents that require an Oath and that we will be conducting one for each of them.
As a Notary, I made an Oath that I would conduct myself in a certain manner and this, to my mind, clearly falls under my responsibilities. I too have had MANY Signers report that they have never done an Oath before, but never followed it up by asking about the previous Notary and reporting them. I inform them that the Notary should have conducted it and that we will be doing so. In these instances, I also usually quip - to not make a big deal of it - “now, that was pretty painless, wasn’t it?” or “It’s like cheap entertainment.” I have never had any issues…I control the Signing. That’s my job.
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