A COUNTRY JUSTICE
by Hon. Kevin A. Denton
JUST WHAT IS IT TO GET SOMETHING NOTARIZED?
Hang out in a lawyer’s office for any time and you’re bound to hear one asked their clients or others to get something “notarized.” “notarized.” I put this word in quotes because although you might find it in Webster’s–and we all say it–it is bot, strictly speaking, a legal term.
Oh, you’ll still find a few paleo-lawyers who will be heard to say, Please have this document acknowledged.” That’s proper all right but no one knows what they’re talking about.
Notaries are public officials qualified to take oaths or acknowledgements. Lawyers are automatically notaries by statute, but almost anyone can become one by studying a booklet available from the County Clerk and returning there to take a scheduled test. Please consider doing so because we can’t have enough notaries !
The office of notary goes back to goes back to the Romans (notarii)– scriveners who prepared simple wills, deeds and other documents and notaires (but more like our lawyers) still exist in France today (It was, after all, part of the Roman Empire.
I’ve had people ask for notary stamps on letters, consumer complaints, car registrations, wills and numerous other documents where they were not necessary. The fact is there are only two reason for a document to be signed before a notary. One is to make the document eligible for
recording in the County Clerk’s Office. (We call that an acknowledgment . Before a deed, mortgage land title paper can be recorded it must be properly acknowledged. The person signs the document before the notary who either knows the signer (or is satisfied with their ID) Then the notary signs the acknowledgement paragraph which starts “On this 15th Day of June (and the year) personally came (the signer) and affixes her stamp which states her name, term of office and the county where qualified, expiration date and qualifying county (notaries are not limited to that county however.) The notary will either know the person or will ask for some photo ID) Notaries must re re-qualify every two years, but additional testa are not required.
And that’s all an acknowledgement is. The notary is only attesting the signature. She is not verifying the contents of the document or vouching for its accuracy.
The other need for a notary is to produce an affidavit—a sworn statement This is done by adding to a written statement “Sworn to before me this 8th Day of June, 2021 (or whatever). This iis called a jurat (There’s that French again!)
No one is going to get rich as a notary. The statutory fee is $2 per document acknowleged. (although higher fees can be collected to reflect extended time or travel required. So why bother becoming one? Well, you ‘d be making that service readily available in your community. and even if you don’t work in a law office, might make yourself more valued by your present employer. Real estate agents, car dealerships, and insurance agents often need documents notarized. Even a grocery store might be happy to put up a “notary available” sign as a service to its customers Think about it!
For many years Kevin Denton was an attorney and judge in Pawling and is now retired to France. Your questions or topic suggestions can be forwarded to the Harlem Valley News. Names are never printed and no attorney-client relationship created thereby.
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