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ACKNOWLEDGMENT:
An acknowledgment is a statement attached to a document declaring
that the person who signed the instrument is the person mentioned
therein and that that person did sign the document.
ATTEST:
Attest means to bear witness to. To declare a document to be true
or genuine is to attest to its authenticity. When a witness signs a
legal document, such as a will, at the request of the maker, it is
an act of attestation.
CERTIFYING:
To verify; endorse.
JURAT:
The jurat is the clause written at the foot of an affidavit that
states when, where, and before whom an affidavit was sworn. It is a
certificate of proof or acknowledgment.
OATH:
Any form of attestation or pledge by which a person signifies
that he or she is bound in conscience and out of a sense of
responsibility to a Supreme Being to the truthfulness for some
statement. Willfully swearing to untrue statements constitutes
perjury.
VERIFYING:
Establish the truth, accuracy or reality of.
A) Power
to Administer Oaths and Affirmations
Notaries shall have power to
administer oaths and affirmations, according to law, in all matters
belonging or incident to the exercise of their notarial office.
Any person who shall be convicted of having willfully and knowingly
made or taken a false oath or affirmation before any notary in any matters
within their official duties shall be guilty of perjury and shall be subject
to the penalties in such case made and provided.
B)
Power to Take Acknowledgment of
Instruments of Writing Relating to Commerce or Navigation and
to Make Declarations
Notaries shall have the power to receive
the proof of acknowledgment of all instruments of writing relating to
commerce or navigation, such as bills of sales, bottomries, mortgages
and hypothecations of ships or vessels, charter parties or
affreightment, letters of attorney, and such other writings as
have been usually proved or acknowledged before notaries within this
comm0onwealth, and also to make declarations and testify the truth
thereof, under their seals of office, concerning all matters by them
done in virtue of their respective office.
C) Register,
Copies or Records
(a)
Every notary public shall keep an accurate register of all official acts
by him/her done by virtue of his/her office, and shall, when thereunto
required, give a certified copy of any record in his/her office to any
person applying for same. Said register shall contain the date of
the act, the character of the act, the date and parties to the
instrument, and the amount of fee collected for the service.
(b) The register and other public papers of such notary shall not
in any case be liable to be seized, attached or taken in execution for
debt or for any demand whatsoever.
D)
Power to Take Depositions,
Affidavits and Acknowledgment of Writings Relative to Lands
Notaries
shall have power to take depositions and affidavits, to take and receive
the acknowledgment or proof of all deeds, conveyances, mortgages, or
other instruments or writing touching or concerning any lands, tenements
or hereditaments, situate, lying and being in any part of this State.
E)
Limitation
on Powers
(Section 19)
(a) No director or officer in any bank,
banking institution or trust company, holding at the same time the
office of notary public, shall do or perform any act or duty as notary
public for any bank, banking institution or trust company in which he is
a director or officer. Any act or duty performed by any such notary
public for any such bank, banking institution or trust company is hereby
declared invalid.
(b) No clerk in any bank, banking
institution or trust company, holding at the same time the office of
notary public, shall be authorized to protest checks, notes, drafts,
bill of exchange, or any commercial paper, for any bank, banking
institution or trust company in which he is employed.
(c) The fees of any such notary for other
services rendered shall be the property of such notary and in no case
belong to or be received by the corporation of which he is director or
clerk.
(d) No [justice of the peace, magistrate or
alderman,} district justice, holding at the same time the office of notary public, shall
have jurisdiction in cases arising on papers or documents containing
acts by him done in the office of notary public.
(e) No notary public may act as such in any
transaction in which he is a party directly or pecuniarily interested.
For the purpose of this section, none of the following shall constitute
a direct or pecuniary interest:
(1) being a shareholder
in a publicly traded company that is a party to the notarized
transaction;
(2) being an officer,
director or employee of a company that is a party tot he notarized
transaction, unless the director, office or employee personally benefits
from the transaction other than as provided in clause (3); or
(3) receiving a fee
that is not contingent upon the completion of the notarized transaction.
F)
Fees Of Notaries Public
The fees of notaries public shall be fixed
by the Secretary of the Commonwealth with
the approval of the Attorney General.
NOTARY PUBLIC FEE SCHEDULE AS
OF MAY 28, 2005 THE SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH REVISED NOTARY
FEES
Executing affidavits, no matter how many signitures
...
$5.00
Executing acknowledgments
..$5.00
In executing acknowledgments, each
additional name
$2.00
Executing certificates, per certified copy
........... $5.00
Administering oaths, per individual taking an oath
. $5.00
Taking depositions, per page
.$3.00
Executing verifications *
...................................
. $5.00
Executing protests, per page............................................... $3.00
* New Fee
 A notary public shall not
charge, attempt to charge or receive a notary public fee that is in
excess of the fees fixed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth. (Section
21 (b))
G)
Prohibited Acts
1) A notary public may not use a name or initial in signing
certificates other than that by which the notary public is
commissioned. A notary public may not notarize his/her own signature.
2) A notary public may not affix his or her signature to
a blank form of affidavit or certificate of
acknowledgment and deliver that form to another person with the intent
that it be used as an affidavit or acknowledgment.
3) A notary public may not take the acknowledgment of or
administer an oath to a person whom the notary public actually knows to
have been adjudicated
mentally incapacitated by a court of competent jurisdiction, where the
acknowledgment or oath necessitates the exercise of a right that has
been removed or (3), and where the person has not been restored to
capacity as a matter of record.
4) A notary public may not notarize a signature on a document
if it appears that the person is mentally incapable of understanding the
nature and effect of the document at the time of notarization.
5) A notary public may not take the acknowledgment of a person
who does not speak or understand the English language, unless the nature
and effect of the instrument to be notarized is translated into
a language which the person does understand.
6) A notary public may not change anything in a written
instrument after it has been signed by anyone.
7) A notary public may not amend a notarial certificate after
the notarization is complete.
8) A notary public may not notarize a signature on a document
if the person whose signature is being notarized is not in the presence
of the notary public at
the time the signature is notarized.
9) A notary public may not notarize a signature on a document
if the document is incomplete or blank. However, an endorsement or
assignment in blank of a negotiable or nonnegotiable note and the
assignment in blank of any instrument given as security for such note
is not deemed incomplete.
10) A notary public may not notarize a signature on a document if
the notary public has a direct or pecuniary interest in or is a party to the
underlying transaction; however, a notary public who is an employee may
notarize a signature for his or her employer, and this employ-
ment does not constitute a direct or pecuniary interest in the transaction nor
make the notary a party to the transaction under this subsection as
long as he or she does not receive a benefit other than his or her
salary and the fee for services as a notary public authorized by law.
For purposes of this section, a notary public who is an attorney does
not have a direct or pecuniary interest in and is not a party to the underlying
transaction evidenced by a notarized document if he or she notarizes a signature on that document for a client for whom he or she serves as an attorney of record and he or she has no interest in the document
other than the fee paid to him or her for legal services and the fee
authorized by law for services as a notary public.
OTHER PROHIBITED ACTS
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Do not notarize a photograph. Do not notarize a copy of a birth
certificate, or any other vital record or public record. |
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Do not certify a translation of a document from one language into
another. |
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Do not provide signature guarantees. This duty is usually
performed by officials in the banking and securities industry. |
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Do not certify the authenticity of objects, such as art or sports
memorabilia. |
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Do not judge contests or certify contest results. |
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Do not certify a person's residency or citizenship status. |
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Do not prepare legal documents, or immigration papers, unless you
are an attorney licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania. |
DON'T NOTARIZE PHOTOGRAPHS
Occasionally, you may be asked to "notarize" a photograph.
Please be aware that certifying or notarizing photographs is not an
authorized notarial act. You may, however, notarize a person's signature
on a written statement concerning the photograph.
CORRECTIONS
When necessary to correct information
already printed in the
notarial certificate, i.e., the date, the name of the person whose
signature is being notarized, do not use correction fluid. Simply mark
through the incorrect information and make the change before you
complete the notarization. You should probably initial that change,
also.
Once you "complete" the
notarization and return it to the
document signer, you may not amend your certificate. For instance,
if you forgot to state the type of identification or affix your seal and
the document is returned to you on a later date by the receiving party,
you may not correct your error. The document will require
re-notarization, including the presence of the document signer.
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