General Notary Services
A Notary Public is not an attorney nor an officer of the court. Therefore we can not help you in the drafting of a document or suggest wording. All documents must be prepared for notarization. There are a few basic ideas that must be taken into consideration.
- The document is question must have the proper wording and setup for notarization. If it does not, the signer MUST contact the entity that requested the notarization and ascertain the type of notarization required.
- Affidavit- the wording of the document will read "Sworn and Subscribed before me" or to that effect. This states the signer is attesting to the truthfulness of the facts in the document by their signature. The notary is attesting that they witnessed your signature and you were properly identity.
- Acknowledgement- The wording will be similar to "On this date before me appeared" etc.. This wording states that you personally appeared before the notary and identified yourself according to PA law. The notary is then vouching for your personal appearance and identity.
- Certification- This is when you are requested to get true and correct copies or certified copies of documents. I.E. school degrees, certificates of education, vocational licensure etc. To achieve this properly you must provide the ORIGINAL document to the Notary Public. They will then make the copy and attest to it being a true and correct copy of the original document. However in the case of "certified" copies of records or documents like birth, death, and marriage or divorce, only the issuing agency of these types of documents can provide "certified copies". A Notary will be able to clarify this issue for you.
- Any document to be notarized must be complete and be free of blank spaces. All items requiring information or completion must be done BEFORE notarization.
- Notarization of a document DOES NOT make it a legal document.
- The signer of the document to be notarized must be present with proper ID at the time of notarization.
Always remember a Notary Public is not an Attorney, we can not provide forms, give legal advice or draw any documents. Nor can a PA Notary Public perform a marriage. If you are in need of legal advice, legal defense or a legal document drafted, please contact an attorney of your choice.
