Notaries are registered professionals who verify the contents of or signatures on legal documents. While anyone can become a notary by taking a class and becoming certified, they still have a vital role in ensuring the legality of documents. Therefore, notary appointments adhere to very strict requirements. Coming prepared to your notary appointment can help the process go more smoothly.
Complete Your Documents Before Your Notary Appointment
If you’ve never had a notary appointment before, this may seem counterintuitive. The truth is a notary is only there to watch you sign a document. Notaries exist to ensure you are of sound mind and are willingly signing your agreement. They don’t need to verify you’re the one who completed it. In short, it would be a waste of time for your notary if you brought a blank document with the expectation to complete it at your appointment.
Additionally, many states mandate that notaries presented with incomplete documents must turn the client away. Notaries may be certified, but they cannot help you complete a document or give legal advice.
Bring Valid Identification
Part of verifying a signature on a document is checking you are who you say you are. It may seem tedious and ridiculous, but a notary’s job is to protect you from those who would fraudulently forge your signature on legally binding documents. To do this, a notary must see your state-issued identification, military identification, passport, or other ID. If the names on the identification and completed documents don’t match, your notary cannot notarize the document.
Make Sure All Signers are Present at Your Notary Appointment
If your documents require signatures from multiple people, the entire group must attend the notary appointment. While it could be inconvenient to gather all parties for an in-person appointment, this requirement is to ensure every signer is signing willingly and that there are no forgeries. In most states, notaries are unable to remotely notarize a document via video call. However, several states have begun allowing remote notarizations using specially designed notary software due to the COVID-19 pandemic. California notaries, though, may not perform remote notarizations at all. Notaries may never notarize over the phone.
Notaries are registered professionals who verify the contents of or signatures on legal documents. While anyone can become a notary by taking a class and becoming certified, they still have a vital role in ensuring the legality of documents. Therefore, notary appointments adhere to very strict requirements. Coming prepared to your notary appointment can help the process go more smoothly.
Complete Your Documents Before Your Notary Appointment
If you’ve never had a notary appointment before, this may seem counterintuitive. The truth is a notary is only there to watch you sign a document. Notaries exist to ensure you are of sound mind and are willingly signing your agreement. They don’t need to verify you’re the one who completed it. In short, it would be a waste of time for your notary if you brought a blank document with the expectation to complete it at your appointment.
Additionally, many states mandate that notaries presented with incomplete documents must turn the client away. Notaries may be certified, but they cannot help you complete a document or give legal advice.
Bring Valid Identification
Part of verifying a signature on a document is checking you are who you say you are. It may seem tedious and ridiculous, but a notary’s job is to protect you from those who would fraudulently forge your signature on legally binding documents. To do this, a notary must see your state-issued identification, military identification, passport, or other ID. If the names on the identification and completed documents don’t match, your notary cannot notarize the document.
Make Sure All Signers are Present at Your Notary Appointment
If your documents require signatures from multiple people, the entire group must attend the notary appointment. While it could be inconvenient to gather all parties for an in-person appointment, this requirement is to ensure every signer is signing willingly and that there are no forgeries. In most states, notaries are unable to remotely notarize a document via video call. However, several states have begun allowing remote notarizations using specially designed notary software due to the COVID-19 pandemic. California notaries, though, may not perform remote notarizations at all. Notaries may never notarize over the phone.
Notary Public Services in the Inland Empire
Notary services can sometimes be difficult to track down, especially if you are unwilling or unable to attend an in-person appointment during the pandemic. Luckily, the notaries at ProSe Legal can provide quick notary appointments both in-person at any of our Inland Empire branches or socially distanced in our COVID-compliant mobile office which can come right to your door.
If you need signature verifications, jurats, or other notary services, or call (909) 497-1349 today!
