Declining a Notarization

Declining to Perform a Notarial Act
ASN Hot Tip, Published January 2008

Under what circumstances may I decline to perform a notarial act for a client?

A notary is, first and foremost, a public officer. He must be prepared and willing to carry out his duties for a client who requests a notarial act that is authorized by the state in which he is commissioned, if all elements for performing the notarial act are in place.

The following is a list of common reasons or situations that may cause a notary to decline to perform a notarial act. It is not an exhaustive list. No list can contain all the situations in which a notary might find himself.

You may decline to perform a notarial act if:

• The notary believes that the transaction is fraudulent in some way.
• The document is not eligible to have a notarial act performed over it, i.e.
  • The notary has not been given all the pages of the document.
  • There are blank spaces in the document that appear to be germane to the signer’s understanding of the document, and the signer doesn’t know what information belongs in these spaces.
  • The date on the document is later than the date that the notarial act would take place.
• The client appears to be confused.
• The client does not understand the contents of the document well enough to execute the document by signing it.
• The signer is apparently being coerced to sign a document that she does not want to sign.
• The document signer does not have identification as required by state law.
• The notary believes that the person standing before him is not the person whose name is on the document.
• The client has come to the notary at his place of employment with a document for a type of transaction that the notary’s employer has instructed him not to consider for a notarial act.
• The notary is not authorized by state law to perform the requested notarial act.
• The client’s request is not a notarial act at all.
• The client refuses to pay the notary’s authorized fee for performing a notarial act.
• There is someone else present who appears to have some sort of control over the signer.
• The client wants the notary to travel to perform the notarial act, and the notary is not a “mobile notary.”

Don’t guess at what you should or should not do when faced with an unusual situation. Don’t take the advice of the client or another notary who works with you. These people may mean well, but they also may give you incorrect information. If you are uncertain whether you should proceed with a notarial act, call ASN—We’re here for you!

→Also read The Power to Decline to Notarize

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