Dont try and Notarize your own Document and What This Means for the Public

It would appear to be very easy. You are getting ready to buy some real estate, and a number of the paperwork that need to be signed need to be notarized. Since you are a notary (and it is clear that you are aware of who you are), there is no reason for you not to notarize the document that you created yourself. There are two main reasons why notaries public should never notarize a document that they have created themselves:

1. The laws governing notaries do not permit this.

Notary laws in every state strictly prohibit notaries from notarizing their own documents or notarizing documents when the notary is named as a party to the underlying transaction, has a financial or beneficial interest in the transaction, or is a signatory to a document. This is the case because notaries are prohibited from notarizing documents when they have a financial or beneficial interest in the transaction.

2. A notary public cannot be a neutral party or an unbiased witness when his or her own documents are at issue in a transaction.

Notaries public are not permitted to notarize their own documents or take their own acknowledgment under the law since they are unable to act as an unbiased witness or a disinterested party to a transaction in which they are involved. This is due to the fact that a notary acts as a neutral third party to observe the signer freely and willingly signing the document, to authenticate the identity of the signer, and to either administer an oath or take an acknowledgment from the signer. It would contradict the purpose of having a notary if the notary were to notarize his or her own document because all of the essential stages to take a signer’s acknowledgment would be skipped in the process. Most significantly, there would be a clear and obvious conflict of interest, and the integrity of the entire process may be called into question.

Exceptions

Notaries public in states that mandate the use of a notary journal are authorized, upon request, to self-certify an entry from their notary journal as a true and unaltered copy of the original document. A notary can self-certify a copy of the customer’s original document in states that permit the certifying of copies of nonrecordable papers. This means that the original document must be submitted to the notary. In either scenario, the notary will need to complete a notarial certificate in which they swear that the copies are accurate representations of the originals that have not been tampered with. After that, the notary will affix their signature and the official notary seal to the paper, and then they will make an entry in the official notary journal.

Always be knowledgeable about the laws and regulations of your state. If a notary commits an illegal conduct, the notary is subject to the penalties of criminal and/or civil culpability, which may include the revocation or suspension of his or her commission as a notary public.