Monday, August 10, 2009

The next discussion that came about this week was about matching the signature of a signer to the ID.

Example "John Marshall Roberts” asks for a document to be notarized. His ID is a driver’s license which has the name of "John Marshall Roberts". His signature on the ID says "JM Roberts". The document is prepared for a "John Marshall Roberts". After verifying the ID and recording the info in their log, the notary asked him to place his signature on the document. He did and it read "JM Roberts". The notary would then NOT accept the signature! And they refused to notarize on the grounds they could not verify identity.

What if the document stated "JM Roberts" to sign? That would not have matched the ID either. Then what???

What in the world is going on? This is his legal signature!!! Anyone else have an opinion? This is what is being taught by some organizations which astound me!!!!

Remember the basic rule......

Questions and answers?

I have realized I am not very good at this blogging thing! As you can tell from the posts and time frames I think that is a fair statement. LOL! Although with all the things I see and read about I should blog a lot more often.....A LOT MORE!

For example this week a state organization president stated in an email list, to an organization we both belong, that his office refused notarization of a document because they felt the document was not legal. I am assuming that because as I read on and saw other responses about his statement ...they agreed and questioned the fact that there was no LEGAL reason to refuse notarization. I was by all accounts stunned by this. That such a supposed educated, learned man in this field by his own account an expert could make such a basic error! And to have him gloss over the issue by focusing on the document was revealing. Sometimes the statement of not seeing the forest for the trees can have real meaning.

The basic procedure is just that basic. A Notary Public is a neutral witness to the execution of documents. The job is to identify the signer through accepted means and verify their signature. Nothing more nothing less. Unless the document clearly shows an illegal intent that may cause the notary legal issues or there is a conflict of interest there should be no reason to refuse service legitimately. We are public servants and as such must provide service according to the law in a lawful and reasonable manner. Unless the notary is also an attorney these judgments should be left to the drafter of the document and the signer. Not the notary who is supposed to be impartial and neutral.