Why should i notarize a document

Court clerks, county commissioners and deputies perform notary services. A notarized signature confirms that the person whose signature appears on the document is, in fact, the person who signed the official paper.

Individuals who sign documents in the presence of a notary public assert they are not forced to provide signatures. Alyson Paige has a master's degree in canon law and began writing professionally in Her articles specialize in culture, business and home and garden, among many other topics. By Alyson Paige. But, equally important, should someone ever fraudulently execute a document in your name, you will now be able to definitively prove it wasn't you.

At Notarize, we deeply believe in the principals of notarization. Yes, Notarize is ten times more convenient than traveling to meet a notary in person. It is also ten times more secure and verifiable, better ensuring that we can rely on the most important transactions of our lives.

Posted in: eNotary online notary. You have notarization questions, we have notarization answers. While we at Notarize pride ourselves on providing helpful resources like this blog! Pro tip: always check with your own attorneys, advisors, or document recipients if you have further questions about notarization or digitally notarized docs.

The sacred notarial process — rooted in face-to-face interaction for hundreds of years — cannot function amidst a life-threatening pandemic. Industries that rely upon notaries are grinding to a halt. To help solve the challenge of our time, we are opening the Notarize platform to commissioned notaries and title agents to meet the surge in demand for online notarizations. Sign Up Notarize a Document. Subscribe to the Notarize Blog Join over 50, others and subscribe to receive the latest updates, industry news and more.

Why we notarize documents. Pat Kinsel. Notarization serves three purposes: To ensure the person signing a document is properly identified To ensure the intended person signs the document under their own free will And, to ensure the transaction can be independently verified after the fact Notarization is a system to prevent fraud and notary publics are front line officers in that battle.

An acknowledgment is typically performed on documents controlling or conveying ownership of valuable assets. Such documents include real property deeds, powers of attorney and trusts. For an acknowledgment, the signer must appear in person at the time of notarization to be positively identified and to declare "acknowledge" that the signature on the document is his or her own, that it was willingly made and that the provisions in the document are intended to take effect exactly as written.

A jurat is typically performed on evidentiary documents that are critical to the operation of our civil and criminal justice system. Such documents include affidavits, depositions and interrogatories.

For a jurat, the signer must appear in person at the time of notarization to sign the document and to speak aloud an oath or affirmation promising that the statements in the document are true. An oath is a solemn pledge to a Supreme Being; an affirmation is an equally solemn pledge on one's personal honor.

A person who takes an oath or affirmation in connection with an official proceeding may be prosecuted for perjury should he or she fail to be truthful. A copy certification is performed to confirm that a reproduction of an original document is true, exact and complete. Such originals might include college degrees, passports and other important one-and-only personal papers which cannot be copy-certified by a public record office such as a bureau of vital statistics and which the holder must submit for some purpose but does not want to part with for fear of loss.

This type of notarization is not an authorized notarial act in every state, and in the jurisdictions where it is authorized, may be executed only with certain kinds of the original document. Each state and U. While these different notarial laws are largely congruent when it comes to the most common notarizations, namely acknowledgments and jurats, there are unusual laws in a number of states.

In the state of Washington, for example, certification of the occurrence of an act or event is an authorized notarization. And in Maine, Florida and South Carolina, performing a marriage rite is an allowed notarial act.