So I recently did a Deed package signing at a couple’s house. They were selling their current property. The title company that sent the paperwork required not only for the seller’s to send a copy of their IDs but also the notary’s ID (driver licenses used). It was made clear in the paperwork that not complying would interfere with the closing. I never in the 7 years I’ve been doing this work been required to send my ID anywhere. They also had me signing a page stating I saw their ID and am enclosing a copy of them. They wanted a notarization stamp added to my signature which I did not provide. Instead, noted on the page that I can not notarize my own signature. Anyone else run into this?
PS: we were unable to reach them on the phone during appointment.
That’s a new one. Nope never been asked by a TC for MY Driver’s License in the 30 years I’ve been doing this. Been asked to ‘notarize my own signature’ often and don’t.
@signwithmichele My direct experience mirrors @Arichter 's as noted above.
Hello Michele. I’ve just recently conducted a signing whereby I was asked to add my commission number, expiration date and to notarize my signature while stating that I’ve seen the IDs of the clients. I informed them that my commission number and expiration date is on the stamp as they can see from the “legal” notarizations throughout the package, and it is “illegal” for me to notarize my own signature. I then informed them that my SoS informs us to neither sign nor notarize said document, and provided them with the phone number to the SoS. They did ask for a copy of my ID. I informed them that we are supposed to verify the identity of the signers of documents and ensure the signing is done willingly and knowingly, and not to provide our own personal information. If they want to verify who I say I am, compare my stamp with the Notary Public Listing on the SoS website.
Not a problem. Just don’t stamp it. You know some states don’t require notary stamps, only signature, printed name, commission #, and expiration date.
My state, VT, doesn’t require a stamp. My attitude is that if I write that I did something with some documents, use the title “Notary Public”, and sign it, I’m indicating it’s a notarial act. (Unless it’s obvious it isn’t the sort of thing that’s a notarial act). If it isn’t a valid notarial act, then I’ve misused my office.
In my state, certifying copies of IDs is a valid notarial act for many, but not all IDs. For example, copies of miltiary IDs is not allowed. But saying that the picture on an ID matches the appearance of a signer would not be a valid notarial act.
An example of a document that obviously isn’t a notarial act would be submitting a public comment that some proposed notarial rule is a bunch of hooey.
I agree those forms are typically written by title clerks that had no clue what a notary code is.
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