Powers of a Notary Public: Attestations, Acknowledgements
Under the amended Notary Public Law, notaries public are empowered to administer oaths and affirmations, certify copies and take depositions, affidavits, and verifications, upon oath or affirmation and acknowledgments. Any person who is convicted of having willfully and knowingly made or taken a false oath, affirmation, deposition, affidavit, certification or acknowledgment before any notary public shall be guilty of perjury and subject to criminal penalties.
When notarizing documents the notary public must include a statement showing when, where and before whom it was sworn. This statement is known as a jurat and includes the words "sworn and subscribed." Sworn means an oath was administered and subscribed means that the form was signed in the notary's presence. The date of expiration of the notary commission and the location of the office shall be placed immediately below the notary's signature. The Notary Public Law requires the notary to impress the rubber stamp seal "in a prominent place on the official notarial certificate near the notary's signature."
Since a notary commission is granted to a particular individual, a notary public cannot delegate notarial authority to another person. A notary public's commission is not transferable, even on a temporary basis. It is prohibited to permit another person to use your notary public commission and you must safeguard your seal at all times. A notary cannot notarize his or her own signature.
A notary's authority extends to all counties in the Commonwealth. A notary may notarize at any location in the Commonwealth. A Pennsylvania notary may not perform notarial acts outside this state.
Notaries public in Pennsylvania may not take an application for a marriage license, issue a marriage license, or perform a civil marriage ceremony.
Limitation on Notary Public Powers
No notary public may act as such in any transaction in which he is a party directly or pecuniarily interested. Pecuniarily is defined as financially or monetarily. For the purpose of this provision, none of the following shall be 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 to the notarized transaction, unless the
director, officer or employee personally benefits from the transaction other than on a noncontingency basis; or
3) Receiving a fee that is not contingent upon the completion of the notarized transaction.
Determining the Identity of Person Appearing
The proper method for determining the identity of a person appearing before a notary under the amended Notary Public Law is that the "officer notarizing the instrument shall know through personal knowledge or have satisfactory evidence that the person appearing before the notary is the person described in and who is executing the instrument." "Personal knowledge" as defined in the amended Notary Public Law as having an acquaintance, derived from association with the individual in relation to other people and based upon a chain of circumstances surrounding the individual, which establishes the individual's identity. "Satisfactory evidence" means the reliance on the presentation of a current, government-issued identification card bearing a photograph or signature or physical description and serial or identification number or the oath or affirmation of a credible witness who is personally known to the notary and who personally knows the individual.
Certified Copy from the Register
Section 15 of the Notary Public Law states, "Every notary public shall give a certified copy of any record in his office to any person applying for same". A notary public can prove that an act took place by supplying a certified copy. To make a certified copy of a record in the register, the notary public reproduces the page and attaches a certificate stating, "this is a true and correct copy from my official register". The reproduction should be a photocopy of the entire register page containing the entry in question. However, the notary public may wish to cover the other entries on the page to protect the confidentiality of the other entries.
- Acknowledgments
An acknowledgment is a formal declaration before an authorized official such as a notary, by a person who has signed a document, that the document is his or her act. Acknowledgments are governed by the Uniform Acknowledgment Act. Five forms are listed in that act. The person acknowledging the document must personally appear before the notary.
In addition, the person may sign the document in the notary’s presence, or acknowledge that the signature on the document is his or her own.
To view the Uniform Acknowledgment Act, clickhere.
SAMPLE ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania )
)SS:
County of )
On this, the______day of ______, 20____, before me a notary public, the undersigned officer, personally appeared______, known to me (or satisfactorily proven) to be the person whose name is subscribed to the within instrument, and acknowledged that he executed the same for the purposes therein contained.
In witness hereof, I hereunto set my hand and official seal.
______Notary Public
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The fees for notaries public are set by the Secretary of the Commonwealth with the approval of the Attorney General. A notary public must 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. A notary public must display their fees, separately stated, in a conspicuous place in the notary's place of business or provide them to any person utilizing the services of the notary upon request, which requirement shall not apply if the notary public waives the right to charge a fee.
The fee for any notary public employed by a bank, banking institution or trust company shall be the property of the notary public and in no case belong to or be received by the corporation for whom the notary is employed.
Notaries public may charge a clerical or administrative fee for services they have provided in addition to the notarization of a document such as copying documents, postage, phone calls or completing forms. These clerical fees are not set by statute. Customers should be informed if a clerical fee is being charged in addition to the notary public fees prior to the notarization of a document. The customer's receipt should itemize these fees. Notaries public should separately itemize clerical fees from notary fees in the notary public register.
NOTARY PUBLIC FEE SCHEDULE
LAST REVISED MAY 28, 2005
Notaries Fees Notice
Executing Affidavits(no matter how many signatures) / $5.00Executing 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*
Making Protests (per Page) / $3.00