I have just started to work as a notary and I am looking at my journal under the 'Type of Notary Act" column and the choices I have are; Acknowledgement, Proof of execution, Oath of Office, Jurat, Protest and other. I am confused about what to mark or must I mark anything at all. For instance, a customer brought to me a General Warranty Deed. Should I mark acknowedgement or jurat. The person appeared in front of me with the document and signed it in front of me. Was the actual acknowledgement or jurat document required or just my signature and stamp. Do I only mark those when I use the actual document?? Any help de-confusing me would be greatly appreciated.
Bernie, where are you located? Were you required to have any training before you got commissioned? Because, honestly, this is really basic notary 101. You should be well aware what notarial act you are performing. Did you affix your stamp to an acknowledgement, a jurat, did you give an oath of office, did you do a protest?
If a journal is not required by your state but you've decided you're going to keep a journal anyway for your own records, IMO you should keep it as detailed as possible. If a journal IS required in your state, then you should have had this knowledge before you got commissioned.
As for this "For instance, a customer brought to me a General Warranty Deed. Should I mark acknowedgement or jurat. The person appeared in front of me with the document and signed it in front of me. Was the actual acknowledgement or jurat document required or just my signature and stamp. Do I only mark those when I use the actual document?? Any help de-confusing me would be greatly appreciated." - I'm very confused on what you mean. You will mark in your journal whatever act you performed. I'm guessing when you say "Was the actual acknowledgement or jurat document required or just my signature and stamp. Do I only mark those when I use the actual document?? " you mean do you record it whether or not it's part of the document or did you attach a loose certificate {{maybe not - I'm really not sure}}. Should you mark acknowledgement or jurat? What was on the document? If nothing, what did the client tell you he wanted - because it's not your call.
I'd refer you back to your handbook and study study study. No offense, but It sounds to me like you really need to get back to studying the basics til you're sure of what you're doing.
I couldn't agree more. The reality of committing an illegal act is great when you don't know what you are doing. Take the Notary.net course and replay it over and over until you understand. Get the handbook as a reference guide. It sounds like you studied for the test and passed, (like so many do) but have no idea as to what the commission requires. Don't take this lightly. Get the right training. I started with the online course, studied for three weeks until I knew the material and "understood" it, then passed the test. I feel confident that I can execute the requirements of the office and you should too!
