Category: In the News

March 4th is a rare public workshop for notaries. The event will be held at Cayuga Community College in Auburn New York.

Noted speaker Alfred E. Piombino will be leading the session, which will last from 9am to 1pm. Parking for the event is free and there is public transportation at the college.

The class itself is $125. That includes study material. This consists of two books, Notary Public Register and Recordkeeping Protocols, as well as Notary Public Handbook: A Guide for New York.

Attendance at this seminar is a must for every prospective Notary Public to properly prepare for the serious legal authority, duties and myriad responsibilities of holding this public officer appointment,” said Alfred E. Piombino, the course pioneer and faculty.

“Simply taking and passing the 40-question examination, implemented in 1950 by New York Secretary of State Thomas J. Curran, is a good start, but it’s not sufficient preparation by itself to fully understand and execute all the required duties,” said Piombino.

The renowned course taught by Piombino will provide far-reaching reviews of the duties and responsibilities of New York Notary Public. It also will teach official state law examination preparation.

“First appointed as a New York Notary Public in 1981, I easily passed the state law examination because I was a business school student, but I really didn’t fully understand the scope and depth of my duty which inspired my further legal research,” he adds.

“This frustration with a lack of accurate, adequate resources sparked my sense of intellectual curiosity and was the catalyst of forty years of passion for dedicating myself to this niche, legal scholarship, researching, writing and teaching – to not only help other legal practitioners better protect themselves from legal liability, but also to protect the integrity of the civil and criminal court systems,” adds Piombino.

“Notarial legal ineptitude, intentional or unintentional, definitively leads to the insidious denigration of all courts, erodes public confidence and stymies good-faith efforts to effectively and fairly deliver justice to litigants, victims and defendants,” Piombino emphasized. 

The New York Secretary of State conducts the testing portion. This is done through the Department of State. Four sample law exams and answer keys are given to each attendant to help facilitate learning.

Members of the Civil Service Employees Association union may submit a voucher to cover the cost of the training. The CSEA Tuition Benefit Voucher is available to reimburse union member state employees for the New York State Examination fee.

Space is limited. To find out more or sign up for the training event visit the Cayuga Community College website here Cayuga Community College Office of Community Education & Workforce Development Courses .

In an attempt to prevent deed fraud, the state of Georgia has updated its notary laws in 2025. The new requirements are aimed at better training, better security identification, as well as updated rules for notary journals.

The journal requirements focus on record keeping for exempt entities versus “self-filers”. Exempt entities are associated with exempted professional groups. These include attorneys and title insurance agents.

Requiring record keeping, there were some legal questioning surrounding the current laws. In a strange move, personal knowledge of the signer is still sufficient for the signing.

Confirmation of Identity: To address ambiguities in the prior statutory language, the new law clarifies the acceptable methods for confirming the identity of signers, oath-takers, and affirmants. The previous statutory language allowed identity verification through “personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence,” with only one example of “satisfactory evidence:” a Veterans Health Identification Card issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The amended statute replaces the vague standard with a requirement for verification using government-issued photo identification documents (valid driver’s license; personal identification card issued under Georgia law; or military identification card—still including a Veterans Health Identification Card).[3] Personal knowledge remains a valid method of identity confirmation under the new law.

National Law Review

Educational requirements have also been updated, requiring testing before the initial license, as well as thirty days before each renewal.

How do I know if the Notary Journal is Required for any Specific Signing?

It’s a simple five step process that should help you navigate the new law. We’ll list the steps below, but we recommend you follow up the the text of the bill, or use the link above to the National Law Review.

1. Identify the type of document
2. Determine if signer is a “self-filer”
3. Verify the individuals identity
4. Record required information into your journal
5. Maintain your journal.

Nothing too mind bending here, just a couple of more hoops to jump through that make common sense.

1. The Charges

A notary was charged with notarizing false signatures for a Nebraska medical marijuana initiative.

A total of 24 charges were filed. The notary was charged with official misconduct. Between the notary and their alleged accomplice, 98 ballots were found to have egregious errors live wrong birth date and other details.

Each count in the filing alleged the notary was not in the same room of their accomplice. This is required by state law.

“Hall County Election Commissioner Tracy Overstreet and the people with whom she works take election integrity very seriously,” Klein said in the press release. “Their diligence and thoroughness in the petition signature verification and the work of the investigation team from the Hall County Sheriff’s Office led to these charges. Voters in Hall County should be confident in signing petitions and casting their ballots in Hall County.”

Nebraska Public Media

2. The Dismissal

Then charges were dismissed by Judge Alfred Corey.

“While these duties greatly assist others, notary publics are not public servants who are performing governmental functions,” Corey wrote in a four-page opinion Friday.

Nebraska Examiner

This case has a direct effect on medical marijuana initiatives across the state.

In addition, the court found that a notarys’ duty are essentially clerical and ministerial.

3. The Appeal

Well, it hasn’t ended there.

Prosecutors with the county and state have appealed the dismissal of charges. The notary’s attorney said he vowed to fight this all of the way.

“(The notary) is believed by everyone who has looked into this case to be the one and only person in the history of the state of Nebraska to be criminally charged for simply notarizing documents incorrectly (to be clear, we dispute that even occurred),” Porto (the attorney) said in an email. 

“Nevertheless, the Attorney General’s Office has apparently decided to continue this likely unprecedented prosecution of a well-meaning combat veteran,” Porto continued. “Why?”

Nebraska Examiner

The appeal surrounds Judge Corey’s decision that a notary is not a public official. Prosecutors have brought up the argument that some other states have different laws governing the way a notary is designated to have governmental power.

And you thought a specific signing can be difficult. Just imagine this notary’s ordeal.

We’ll keep you updated when new events occur, though the timeline for that is unknown.

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For those of you doing business in Dekalb County, Georgia, there are some updates to notary law coming soon. The new measures will be put into effect on January 1st, 2025.

It always seems to start with new notaries. They will now have to pass an educational training course to get their commission. It will now be part of the application process.

But, veterans, don’t fret, you aren’t left out. Among the provisions are required their notebook requirements. This is put in place to protect self-filers.

Here are some of the changes to the law.

A notary public shall maintain a written or electronic journal for each notarial act performed at the request of a self-filer for real estate documents.

A notary public applicant is required to complete an educational training class prior to the applicant’s initial (new) appointment.

A notary public applicant is required to complete an educational training class prior to the applicant’s renewal of a current appointment A notary public applicant will be provided a certificate upon successful completion of the training course.

A notary public applicant must include the certificate of completion with the notary application to the Clerk of Superior Court

On Common Ground News

Here are a couple of links related to the subject.

Notary Training Course

New Notary Bill

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Your Nationwide Notary Signing Service

Increase your efficiency and bottom line with Sunshine’s Mobile Notary Services and Online Notary Services. Sunshine is always there when you need us.

GET STARTED

Or Call us at (727) 817-0000

It appears the bill passed through the New York legislature has hit a roadblock. Governor Kathy Hochul has vetoed a bill that would have relieved some burdens for notaries.

The bill dealt with how physical records are treated and stored.

We came across this bill a couple of months ago, and have been excited about its potential. Unfortunately, it did not make it across the finish line.

The COVID epidemic introduces new challenges and new laws for notaries. Among them were bookkeeping and record-keeping changes that were onerous for notaries. This caused many New York attorneys to stop being notaries, as a ten year minimum on records was deemed too big a liability.

Hence, New York Bar stepped in and introduced a bill to remedy the situation.

Here is a statement by Domenick Napoletano, president of the New York State Bar Association.

“For more than a century, New Yorkers commissioned as notaries public have been able to effectively implement their responsibilities – simply noting their name and notary identification number when doing so. When the legislature adopted new statutes enabling notarizations to occur electronically, there was an understanding that new standards should be imposed to protect consumers who were availing themselves of technological advancements, but there was no record to justify changing the standards imposed on in-person notarizations. Yet, when adopting the new rules, the state implemented rules establishing onerous record keeping requirements burdening attorneys practicing in New York State. The disclosure aspect of the superfluous rules also encroach on attorney-client privilege, as lawyers often notarize documents by clients that contain privileged information. Although it is understandable why those offering electronic notarization should be held to a higher standard to prevent fraudulent acts, I am disappointed in the governor’s veto of a bill that would have removed onerous and useless record keeping requirements burdening attorneys who perform in-person notarial acts. We will continue to advocate for a fix to these rules that make the practice of law less efficient and puts clients at risk.”

While the statement applies to lawyers, it would affect all notaries positively. Unfortunately, after the veto it appears dead in the water.

Recording a Notary Commission Just Got Simpler in Philadelphia

We all love when things get easier.

For Notaries in Philadelphia, an important step was removed from the notary commission process. Previously, the commission had to be double recorded, first with the Philadelphia Department of Records, then again with the Office of Judicial Records.

The recording with the Office of Judicial Records has been removed. Notaries only need to file with the Department of Records now.

It is streamlined, more efficient and time saving. And who doesn’t like that.

Notary Called to the Stand During Medical Cannabis Trial

So, they are trying to get medical cannabis on the ballot in Nebraska. A Hall County man was charged with submitting fraudulent signatures.

Besides the circulator himself, as well as a forensic examiner, the notary had to testify at the trial.

It didn’t look good for the notary.

During examination, the notary was “advised to invoke his fifth amendment, against self-incrimination” on nearly all questions asked by the plaintiff attorney Justin Hall, requiring Judge Susan Strong to weigh in on each instance of pleading the fifth.

While there were a few questions where the fifth amendment was not invoked, overall it did not look good for the notary.

Questions included the notary’s involvement with the ballot initiative, as well as text interactions with organizers of the petition.

A simple reminder we do not post notary names and always give them the benefit of the doubt.

One third on deed rejections in Michigan are notary related. This is not the notaries’ fault, but the fault of the laws governing notaries in the state.

Provenance

Did you know there are ten David Smith’s who are notaries in Michigan? And on official documents, it can be hard to tell which David Smith notarized the document. The truth is, it opens up the possibility of fraud in the state.

The state’s legal problem are so bad they have an effect on all Michiganders. The notary stamp is not required by state law. By that we mean wet signatures. They don’t even require notaries’ to keep a journal or use an embosser.

There is not numbered identification symbols for notaries. This can make figuring out which David Smith notarized a document a chore.

Notaries

There are 113,000 notaries in the state of Michigan. Confusion surrounds them. The lack of identifying numbers is a big problem. Michigan courts invalidate too many notarizatons because of it.

Notaries don’t have commission numbers.

If your documents are ever called into question, it can end up in chaos. It would be another layer of fraud protection that is not there. And they can come back to bite you years later.

Training

Nowhere in Michigan law does it require notaries are trained.

No requirement to be trained.

It leads to too many poorly notarized documents that experienced notaries tend not to make. (We know a lot of you are pretty much error free, but everyone misses something on occasion.)

Conclusion

It is home selling season and there is no reason to be completely sure your document may have the right provenance.

It is time to change Michigan notary law.

How does the public have faith in a system like this?

In 2022, New York passed a bill that updated record keeping for notaries. But, the new rules were too burdensome for notaries. Fortunately, the state legislature has acted to amend that bill to ease record keeping rules for notaries.