Notary Mistakes

• Forgetting to affix their notary stamp or seal on the notarial certificate.
• Failing to identify a present principal using the methods specified by the notary’s state of commission or appointment.
• Not including the name of the individual whose signature was notarized in the notarial certificate.
• Not signing an otherwise complete notarial certificate.
• Performing a notarial act that wasn’t authorized in the notary’s state of commission or appointment.
• Failing to use notarial certificate language that is specified by the notary’s state of commission or appointment.
• Failing to properly complete a mandatory journal (recordbook) entry, including the principal’s original signature.

In most cases, every one of the mistakes listed above can be addressed and corrected by the notary.  It takes the good fortune to realize a mistake was made, the courage to own the mistake, and the professionalism to fix the mistake.

Realizing a mistake was made:  Often, inexperienced notaries will review the requirements of notarization after completing one, and realize that they made a mistake or omission.  Other times, the customer whose signature was notarized will contact the notary later, because something they expect to see—such as an official stamp or seal impression—is missing from the notarial certificate.  Or, the customer will submit their document to a relying party, only to have it rejected because of the obvious omission(s) in the notarial certificate.  

The courage to own a mistake:  The only fair and sensible thing for a notary to do is acknowledge their mistake.  It’s reasonable for the notary to first consult their state law and administrative rules to verify the applicable requirements.  If the customer is mistakenly asserting that the notary botched the notarization, the notary should attempt to explain how the notarization complies with applicable laws and administrative rules, and show those laws and rules to the customer.  But if the notary committed an error, they need to immediately admit their mistake(s) to the customer.

The professionalism to fix the mistake:  The notary must first know whether their applicable laws and administrative rules allow them to correct mistakes made on a notarial certificate.  In some states, a notary may make such corrections.  In other states, however, notaries are prohibited from changing or correcting a completed notarial certificate… they must perform the notarization all over again. 

Once the notary is sure they are not prohibited from correcting their previously completed notarial certificate, they will do so by drawing a single line through any incorrectly stated information and initialing the line; writing-in the correct information and initialing that change as well; or adding their missing notarial stamp/seal or official signature, if applicable.  This is also a good opportunity for the notary to review the entire notarial certificate again for accuracy and completeness.

Whenever amending a notarial certificate due to mistakes or omissions, the officiating notary should add a note in the original journal entry for this notarization that corrections were necessary, and what steps were taken.  If there isn’t room in the original journal entry to add the new information, the notary should record them in a new journal entry, then cross-reference the two related journal entries (for example a note that “Entries X and Y are related…” added to each journal entry).  

The final act of notary professionalism is not charging the customer for corrections when the errors were the notary’s fault.  The notary should simply thank the customer for bringing the problem to the notary’s attention, and providing the opportunity to fix the mistake(s).

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