In order for a document to be notarized, the appropriate notarial wording must be present on the document. The Notary is prohibited from choosing the notarial act. The choice is the signer’s to make and the notary cannot give advice. The two most common notarial acts a notary will be asked to perform are administering oaths and taking acknowledgments. Each will require its own certificate wording. If you need a document notarized that does not contain the required notarial language, our Notaries Public can assist with loose certificates or certificate impressions from a rubber stamp.
Notarial wording that is added to the document may be typed or written directly on the face of the document, below the signer’s signature. As an option to handwriting a certificate, certificate stamps and loose certificates are fast, convenient ways to add proper notarial language to a document. The notarial certificate is a written statement, signed and sealed by the notary public, certifying the facts of a notarial act. The two most common notarial acts a notary will be asked to perform are administering oaths and taking acknowledgments. Instead you may provide sample notarial language for a jurat and an acknowledgment, and explain the differences between these notarial acts.
A jurat is a notary’s certification that he or she administered an oath or
affirmation to the signer, whose signature was made in the notary’s
presence. The purpose of a jurat is for a signer to swear to or affirm the
truthfulness of a document’s contents. In order for a jurat to be correctly
executed, the signer must sign the document in front of the notary.
Documents that typically require oaths or affirmations are applications,
affidavits, or any sworn statement in which the signer sets forth certain
facts in writing.
An acknowledgment is a declaration that the signer understands the contents of the document, has signed the document, and consents to the terms and conditions stated in the document. The acknowledgment certificate is the Notary’s certification of the details of this notarial act. The signer may either sign the document prior to appearing before a notary, or in the notary’s presence. In either instance, the signer must acknowledge signing the document for its intended purpose.
