Hello everyone.
Well I need some advice, I have always assumed and practiced that putting the full name on the ID is the name that is written in the certificate. Like even if the document says john smith, I put his pull name of John michael smith in my notary certificate. I've only had one person call about that, and it was over a grant deed. Everything else has seemed to be fine since I haven't gotten any calls or complaints.
What is your experience on this? Should I be writing john smith, or John M. Smith if it's on the doc, instead of John michael smith from the ID?
I've searched everywhere I can find and don't see much definitive answers on this.
I'm in California by the way.
Thanks for your advice!
I have read that Pennsylvania and Indiana require that the name in the document must agree with the name on the notary's certificate in order for a land record to be recorded.
Hello. Thanks for the reply.
Where I get conflicted is shouldn't the document be changed to match their ID name? What if it's over a property and the signers name is john michael smith, doc says john smith, and In the certificate I put just john smith. That would make it very easy for someone to do fraudulent things if they have a generic name like that. That's why I usually put the full name on the ID to differentiate john smith from John michael smith.
@rachaelmc7 wrote:
Hello. Thanks for the reply.
Where I get conflicted is shouldn't the document be changed to match their ID name? What if it's over a property and the signers name is john michael smith, doc says john smith, and In the certificate I put just john smith. That would make it very easy for someone to do fraudulent things if they have a generic name like that. That's why I usually put the full name on the ID to differentiate john smith from John michael smith.
I don't believe a person has one name that they must use for all legal documents. Rather, I believe most have several versions of their name they are entitled to use. So John Michael Smith could write his name "John Michael Smith", "J. S. Smith", "J. Smith" and"Jack Smith". Maybe he has joined a computer website and uses the name John2432. So the question is whether the signer has proved to the notary that he is entitled to use the name that appears in the document. I would say a driver's license would prove all the variations I mentioned with the definite exception of John2342, and the possible exception of "Jack Smith". If Mr. Smith is worried that he might be confused with other John Smiths, he should have demanded that the person who sold him the property list his name in the deed as "John Michael Smith". Or he could have changed his name to "Sebastian Vaillencourt". The signer decided to use a common name; the consequences are on him.
Hello. So I called and finally got through to someone at the CA Secretary of State notary office, and they said that you put the name as it is on the ID used to prove their identity. So if their drivers license says john michael smith, that's what they said to put in the notary certificate. That's how I've been doing it.
I appreciate your advice.
