Today I did a purchase signing for an out of state property with a title company that I've never dealt with before. In their package is an I.D. form to fill out the borrower's information. Under that, the title company wants me to notarize the form. There is no place for the borrower to sign and the notary wording is improper as well. So of course, since the borrower isn't signing it it shouldn't be notarized. We notarize SIGNATURES, not DOCUMENTS. So without the borrower signing anything, you can't notarize it.
But the best part of this form is that underneath the place where they want me to improperly notarize a document, in big bold letters, it states: IMPROPERLY NOTARIZING A DOCUMENT IS A VIOLATION OF STATE LAW. ANY OCCURRENCE WILL BE REPORTED TO THE APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES. Oh the irony! I'm not sure whether to laugh or drop my head in embarrassment.
2 comments:
I used to do signings for a company that would always have one particular form that had no signature line or notarial wording, yet the instructions were that I had to notarize it. I did something unorthodox, but not illegal. I drew in a signature line and the signer signed it. I stapled a loose acknowledgment certificate, filled it out, and sealed it. I got paid and stayed out of trouble.
Jeremy Belmont is the author for the 123notary.com Blog
http://blog.123notary.com/
That's what I did as well. Drew a line, had them sign, added the correct wording.
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