You may request an appointment by calling or texting to 503.708.1602, emailing Steve@SteveDrives.com, or by completing our Contact Us form on this website!

YES!

That’s what sets our service apart from office-only based Notaries! We offer Mobile Notary services (including marriage ceremonies) at your residence, business, health care facilities, or other public locations for your convenience!

We offer Mobile Notary Public services, including marriage officiating, at your residence, business, health care facilities, or other locations for your convenience with these and other documents in Hawkins County TN and surrounding areas, including but not limited to these types of services:

    • Power of Attorney Notarization
    • Marriage Officiating
    • Adoption Notarization
    • Living Will Notarization
    • Last Will and Testament Notarization
    • TN Health Department Form Notarization
    • College Form Notarization
    • Student Work Form Notarization
    • Car Title Notarization
    • Divorce Notarization
    • Child Custody Notarization
    • Room Agreement Notarization
    • Lease Notarization
    • Other Notarial duties – please ask!

YES!

We are licensed by the State of Tennessee through Oct 3, 2028, and are bonded through Travelers Insurance for errors and omissions and liability.

We are based out of Rogersville in Hawkins County, but serve many Eastern Tennessee areas.
Our base cost is $40 to travel to you within Hawkins County.

In addition to Hawkins County, we currently serve Carter, Claiborne, Cocke, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington counties in Northeastern Tennessee, subject to a possible additional Travel Fee that may be charged, solely on our discretion, due to travel time and miles driven that are needed.

See 'What are your additional travel fees' below, call us at 503.708.1602 , or email to Steve@SteveDrives.com for an exact travel fee quote.

$40 - Appointment within Hawkins County, includes up to 2 signatures on 1 document up to 5 pages

$5 – Each additional signature and/or document (up to 5 pages) that are being notarized on same visit

$5 - Notarized documents longer than 5 pages are an additional $5 per 10 pages, or portion thereof

$1.50 per mile - Travel outside Hawkins County per mile (one way) over 10 driving miles from the Hawkins County Clerk’s office in Rogersville may be charged, solely at our discretion, due to travel time and miles driven that are needed. Call us at 503.708.1602 or email to Steve@SteveDrives.com for an exact fee quote.

$100 - Marriage Officiating starts at $100 plus any travel fees or additional services

$15 – Drop off documents to USPS, UPS, or FedEx – must be prepaid in your pre-addressed envelope

$5 - Additional signers (beyond 2 [two] on the same notary certificate) will incur an additional $5 recording fee per document per additional signer.

Waiting Fee - We charge a waiting fee if our Notary Public Agent is kept waiting at the agreed-upon location of our appointment for more than 15 minutes past agreed time for the signer(s) or witness(es) to be available for any reason, including waiting for them to have their acceptable forms of IDs, completing your documents besides final signatures, or the inability of the signers to show they understand the documents and/or sign the documents.
The fee is $15 per 15 minutes (or portion thereof) wait time over 15 minutes, up to 45 minutes after the appointment time. More than 45 minutes wait will be subject to cancellation/no show fees of $40 plus any applicable mileage fees

We require a deposit of $40 plus any applicable travel fees, due within 24 hours of the appointment being scheduled.

Your appointment is not confirmed until the deposit is confirmed, as well as the appointment time being confirmed.

The deposit is fully refundable if cancelled at least 48 hours prior to agreed time.

You may reschedule your appointment (only one time) up to 36 hours prior to agreed time, at no additional charge.

A rescheduled appointment will incur our normal cancellation fee if the appointment is not completed at the newly agreed time;

If the signers are not willing to sign, lack at least one acceptable form of ID, lack any needed witnesses, or if they can’t have enough of a conversation with me to make it clear that they are signing freely and willingly, you will owe my trip fee, which is currently $40 plus any applicable additional mileage fee.

This covers the average hour and a half of our time spent preparing, traveling to and from the appointment, the time spent at the location, as well as fuel and other expenses incurred. Would you drive across town to meet a stranger all hours of the day and night and not be compensated?

YES!

We offer a 10% discount on all fees (except waiting or travel fees) to current, retired, or disabled Peace Officers, Firefighters or any Veterans with proper documentation.

This will be deducted or refunded at the time of service.

Travel fee varies greatly due to mileage and estimated travel time.

Travel outside Hawkins County may incur an additional travel fee of up to $1.50 per driving mile (one way) over 10 driving miles from the Hawkins County Clerk’s office in Rogersville.

Give us a call at 503.708.1602 or email to Steve@SteveDrives.com for a quote based on the exact location requested.

We require a deposit of $40 plus any applicable travel fees within 24 hours of the appointment being scheduled; any additional document and signature fees are due at time of services rendered.
Your appointment is not confirmed until the deposit is confirmed, as well as the appointment time being confirmed.

The deposit is fully refundable if cancelled at least 48 hours prior to agreed time. You may reschedule your appointment (only one time) up to 36 hours prior to agreed time.

If the signers are not willing (or not able to, in the professional opinion of the Notary) to sign, lack at least one acceptable form of ID, lack any needed witnesses, or if they can’t have enough of a conversation with me to make it clear that they are signing freely and willingly, you will owe my trip fee, which is currently $40 plus any applicable additional mileage fee.

This covers the average hour and a half of our time spent preparing, traveling to and from the appointment, the time spent at the location, as well as fuel and other expenses incurred. Would you drive across town to meet a stranger all hours of the day and night and not be compensated?

We accept cash, Apple Pay, Cash App, Venmo, and PayPal. No checks are accepted except for our commercial clients with pre-authorization.
           
CashApp - $SteveDrives                        Venmo - @Steven-Davis-905                      PayPal - @SteveDavis

                  

YES!

There is an additional $15 fee for this service.

We will drop off documents at your request at the United States Post Office, Federal Express or UPS, after you have had a chance to review our notarization of the executed documents.

Documents will be dropped off the same day PROVIDED THAT:
Approval of documents and label is received by 3 pm the same day (No service on Sunday, those will go out Monday). If document approval or label is received after 3pm, the documents will be dropped off the following business day.

You must provide a PREPAID shipping label for us and a suitable envelop or mailer. We will not generate nor pay for shipping your documents. Why? Past experience. We have had several instances where additional charges have been added to the delivery costs, and have not been reimbursed to us. When you ship on your account, you have more control over the shipment. We will assume no liability in shipping documents.

Weather delays, accidents in transit, etc. are beyond our control. If your documents are time sensitive, we simply cannot accept the liability of shipping on our account.

YES!

Please have forms completely filled out EXCEPT for the signer’s final signature before your on-site notary appointment. We cannot notarize incomplete or blank paperwork.

This is a common misconception: We do not have to witness clients “filling out” forms. We only have to witness your signature (if a sworn statement) or have you acknowledge that a signature is your own.

Have all forms COMPLETELY FILLED OUT, EXCEPT FOR SIGNATURES AND WITNESSES BEFORE THE NOTARY ARRIVES.

Quite often clients will hand the notary a single sheet of paper with nothing but a notary certificate and have 15 other pages circulating among the signer, witnesses, etc. The notary must verify and record the type and title of the document as well as fill out the notary certificate with the correct names in the proper places.
With papers and IDs being passed all across a room there is a huge possibility that mistakes will be made.

To alleviate this, please keep your documents in order, preferably stapled together by document.
This will keep them in proper page order and make it easier to ensure everything is filled out correctly.

Please have ID for ALL signers ready to hand the notary when they arrive.

Please allow the notary to hold on to your ID until the signing is over and all signers have signed the notary’s journal. The notary may have to refer to IDs several times during the process. We promise, you’ll get your ID back!

We understand that notarizations can be stressful, but if you will allow only the notary to handle documents and IDs, things will go much easier. We do this every day. We appreciate the offer to help and speed things up, but there is almost a “ritual” to notarizing documents and we have a step-by-step system that alleviates many potential errors.

YES!

Tennessee is one of the few states that allow notaries to officiate wedding ceremonies; only four states allow this service. The benefit of having a notary perform your wedding is that they will travel to your location and let you create your own vows and ceremony in most all cases.

Where a judge or other public official might marry happy couples in a courthouse wedding, and religious figures will officiate weddings in chapels and other places of worship, a notary can go to wherever your chosen venue is!

Tennessee also does not require marriage witnesses!

The state of Tennessee is also lenient when it comes to the manner in which wedding ceremonies take place, leaving it up to the couples to get married however and wherever they choose. The union only needs to be pronounced by the notary presiding over the ceremony.

In Tennessee, you can have a civil ceremony or a religious ceremony for a wedding or elopement. Both are legal, and in either situation, it’s up to you who you choose to act as your wedding officiate. If a Notary Public officiates the marriage ceremony as a notary, it will be a CIVIL ceremony.

Our Notaries are often even available for last-minute marriage ceremonies, such as an elopement, as long as it takes place in Tennessee!

YES!

Before you can get married in Tennessee, you and your partner will need to visit your local county clerk’s office and apply for a license.

You should bring your personal identification documents — such as a valid driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate — to the courthouse. If you’ve been married before, you’ll need the date of your divorce or when you became a widow.

Once the license is issued, you can get married right away — there’s no waiting period or witness requirement for marriages in Tennessee. The license does expire after 30 days, however. So be sure to get the license within one month of your wedding date!

When you get your document notarized, you must provide State or US Government Photo ID. A driver’s license or passport are the two most commonly used forms of ID.

The notary will review your ID to make sure you are who you claim to be. If the notary has any doubts about your identity, they will not notarize the document.

By law a notary public is required to obtain and verify a VALID, GOVERNMENT ISSUED, PHOTO ID.

Accepted forms of identification for having notarial services performed include the following:
   • State-issued driver’s license
   • State-issued identification card
   • US Armed Forces Identification Card
   • U.S. passport
   • Foreign passport
   • US Permanent Resident card
   • Concealed Carry Permit
   • Veteran’s Affairs ID

ID forms that are NOT acceptable:
   • School, Employee, and other photo identification will not meet the State of Tennessee’s requirements – please check with us when you set your appointment if you have any questions.
   • Expired IDs and/or photocopies of IDs are NOT acceptable.
   • A hospital wrist band does NOT meet any of those criteria; It does not have a photo, it is not issued by the government and does not have a validation date or range of dates.
   • A hunting license or fishing license does NOT meet all of those criteria: it does NOT have a photo on it.
   • A police officer’s badge does NOT meet the criteria. Sorry, but it is a chunk of metal that signifies you’re a cop. It doesn’t have your full name, photo or other identifying information. You could have stolen it, bought it at a pawn shop or found it on the ground. We still need your driver’s license or other acceptable ID.
   • A Driver’s license or other ID that is expired will NOT work:  IT IS NO LONGER VALID!
   • ANY PHOTOCOPY OF AN ID WILL NOT WORK!

YES!

Any signers (including any witnesses) will be required to affix their thumbprint to the Notary log book.

NO!

If we did, then anyone with a stolen purse or wallet could bring an ID and a financial power of attorney, deed, etc., and then defraud the person whose ID they have. Signers BY LAW must be physically present. We will come to the signer as needed, subject to our travel fees.

NO, NO, NO!

I get this question a lot.
Let’s go over the criteria: Valid, government-issued, photo ID.

• Valid: Try showing a cop that pulls you over a photocopy of your license and see if he doesn’t verify it.
• Government-Issued: Did the government send you a photocopy of the ID? Probably not. Almost 100% guaranteed they didn’t.
• Photo or copy of an ID: It’s a photo of a photo ID. It is not an ID. It’s a copy of an ID. Why can’t you use it? Anyone with a cheap smart phone can take a picture of an ID and change the info on it and print it out claiming it’s a copy.

Let’s say a daughter wants to deed her mother’s home to herself, so her sisters don’t get anything when mom shuffles off this mortal coil. She scans her ID, changes her info, prints it out, then has a notary public notarize a quitclaim deed. “Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t have my license but my brother found it and emailed me a photo of it. Here’s a picture of it!” The notary is incompetent, notarizes it and the daughter runs off to the courthouse to claim the property. The sisters find out, sue the daughter, then the notary is sued by the mom’s estate and the other sisters. The notary loses his or her commission/license and is caught up in a court case all over a travel and stamp fee because they relied on a copy of a license and didn’t think it was a big deal.

Simple answer: NO, we don’t!

So Where Should I Get Witnesses?
Ask neighbors, friends or distantly related family members who are not directly related and would receive no benefit from having the document signed.

For example: If your wife’s mother is having a will notarized and your wife will inherit property, you as the husband would benefit by having the will notarized, as you and your wife would receive benefit (property and/or items from the estate). Therefore, you would NOT be a good candidate for being a witness.

If you can’t find friends or neighbors, ANYONE who has proper ID and is of legal age and mental capacity can serve as a witness. Other visitors at a hospital or nursing home can witness. It’s awkward to ask, but at least 50% of the people you ask are willing to help. Some people are afraid of getting involved, so don’t take it personally if they deny.

“I’ll just get one of the nurses to witness…” I have worked with many hospitals and nursing facilities in Hawkins County. NONE of them will allow any of their staff members to witness a document signing; to my knowledge and experience, it is against their policy.

Occasionally you might find an employee who will agree to witness because they may not be familiar with the facility’s policy, but please don’t count on this.

Make sure that if your document needs witnesses, that you provide your own.

The signer or agent of a signer must make reasonable efforts to obtain the ID if one exists. “I left it at home” or “She’s in the hospital; I don’t know if she has it” doesn’t work. Find out if the signer has an acceptable ID. Have someone obtain it, mail it if they’re out of state, whatever it takes to get proper ID physically present with the signer and the notary public at the appointment time.

If an ID does not exist (rare) or is impractical to obtain due to time constraints or other issues, a notary public may rely on “Credible Witnesses”.

These are people unrelated to the signer that do not benefit in any way from having a document signed AND have known the signer personally for a substantial period of time.

The credible witnesses MUST have THEIR valid, government-issued photo ID with them and sign the notary’s journal swearing (or affirming) that the signer truly holds the identity they claim.

Now let’s go over who can and cannot serve as a credible witness:
   • My neighbor who has lived across the street from me for 32 years: As long as they are of sound mind, have proper ID, know the signer, and don’t benefit from having the document signed, they’ll probably work.
   • The nurse that has been taking care of my mom in the hospital for two days: Probably not, unless the nurse has known your mom for years on a personal level, and would feel comfortable in front of a judge claiming that your mom is who she says she is.
   • The son of the signer who is leaving everything to him: No! The son is related and has a vested interest in having the document signed. That’s a conflict of interest.
   • A co-worker the signer has worked with for 10 years: Probably fine as long as the coworker has a valid, government-issued photo ID.
   • Random stranger I grabbed from the hallway at the nursing home: No. Just, no!
   • My wife? Are you or your wife going to receive any benefit at all from having the document signed? If so, no!

If the signers are not willing to sign, lack at least one acceptable form of ID, lack any needed witnesses, or if they can’t have enough of a conversation with me to make it clear that they are signing freely and willingly, you will owe my trip fee, which is currently $40 plus any applicable additional mileage fee.

This covers the average hour and a half of our time spent preparing, traveling to and from the appointment, the time spent at the location, as well as fuel and other expenses incurred. Would you drive across town to meet a stranger all hours of the day and night and not be compensated?

Hospital notarizations are often stressful, difficult, and take a long time, but they don’t have to be!

Familiarize yourself with some key points and the process will take only minutes.
Notarization in these situations can be stressful, and clients are often unprepared. By following the guidelines below, you will save yourself, your family, and loved ones time, stress, and additional charges.

• The signer MUST have his or her VALID (not expired) government issued photo ID. See previously defined list of acceptable documents under What Types of ID are Valid?
• Have all forms COMPLETELY FILLED OUT, EXCEPT FOR SIGNATURES AND WITNESSES BEFORE THE NOTARY ARRIVES.
• The signer MUST be able to write his or her own name WITHOUT ANY HELP FROM ANOTHER PERSON. If the signer cannot write a full signature, they must be able to make a distinguishing mark, typically an “X” WITHOUT ANY HELP FROM ANOTHER PERSON AND two witnesses who ARE NOT A PARTY TO THE DOCUMENT (not named in the document, and who will not benefit from having the document signed) must be present and willing to provide their VALID (not expired) original government issued photo ID, and have it recorded by the notary.
• If a medical or physical condition exists that may limit a signer’s ability to sign or make a distinguishing mark, please have the signer practice BEFORE making the appointment with the notary.
• YOU WILL BE CHARGED A APPOINTMENT/TRAVEL AND/OR MILEAGE FEE EVEN IF NOTARIZATION DOES NOT TAKE PLACE.
• If the signer is unable to sign or make a mark, you will need to consult with an attorney to determine how to proceed.
• Travel fees are due in full even if a notarization does not take place.

We will make absolutely no exceptions to these policies:
• The signer CANNOT be under the influence of mind-altering substances including pain killers, medications, sedatives, alcohol, etc.
• They must be alert, aware, and willing to sign the document(s).
• For the protection of the signer, we will refuse to notarize for any patient (signer) that appears to be mentally unsound or otherwise incapacitated.
• We cannot instruct you in ANY WAY regarding how to fill out documents and we cannot, by law, answer any legal questions or explain documents to you.
• We may charge a $15 per 15 minute (or portion thereof) waiting fee after the first 15 minutes if any documents, acceptable IDs, signers and witnesses are not ready.
• Have any witnesses PRESENT and READY TO SHOW ID when the notary arrives. The notary will have to record every signer’s ID plus obtain a fingerprint and signature from each.

Keep in mind that witnesses typically cannot be named in the document or benefit from having the document signed. It is a best practice to have unrelated people serve as witnesses.

Most hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living homes WILL NOT ALLOW THEIR EMPLOYEES TO BE A WITNESS TO SIGNINGS.

We do not provide witnesses. It is your obligation to find witnesses (if needed). Please read your document to determine whether or not you will need a witness or witnesses.

The notary CAN NOT advise you in any way regarding how to fill out forms. We cannot answer legal questions, provide forms, make copies, suggest what forms to use or make corrections to forms.

It is our duty only to establish identity and willingness to sign. We cannot notarize blank documents, and we are not responsible for the use or misuse of documents nor are we responsible for documents that are filled out incorrectly, including documents that may be unusable by the party(s) requesting the documents.

If you have any questions regarding a document’s meaning, application, preparation, legal consequences, etc., you must consult an attorney and/or the person or entity requesting the document.

Again, the notary is NOT AN ATTORNEY and CANNOT give legal advice per state law. If you have any further questions about our policies or services, please do not hesitate to call.

NO!

Unless you already have a power of attorney that has been previously signed and notarized, authorizing you to sign documents for the paralyzed person, NO.

If the signer is able to sign in other ways (signs with their feet, mouth, etc. and has done so for the majority of their life or substantial time following injury) that would generally be acceptable.

In effect if the signer is generally well known to sign using a non-traditional method it “could” be acceptable. In general, you should consult the advice of an attorney in these situations.

NO!

The signer must be mentally capable and aware. We recommend contacting an attorney or the court system to explore the option of conservatorship.

NO!

This is bribery of a state official and is a felony if you offer and/or we accept.
We aren’t going to jail for our clients and don’t want you to go to jail either.

I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY LICENSED TO PRACTICE LAW IN THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, AND I MAY NOT GIVE LEGAL ADVICE OR ACCEPT FEES FOR LEGAL ADVICE.

It doesn’t make sense to ask someone an important question when the person you are asking is not an expert in or trained in the topic you are asking. 

Calling a notary public to ask a legal question is no different. Not only are we not trained in the law, we are specifically prohibited by the State of Tennessee from giving any legal advice.

If you have legal questions or questions related to filling out your documents, you need to consult an attorney or the person or agency that is requesting the document. A notary public does not have the answers, nor can we provide any legal advice.

Many of the phone calls we receive involve the caller asking us a legal question, and often they then get upset when we can’t answer their question.

   • Do you call a fast-food restaurant when you think you’re having a heart attack? NO!
   • Do you call the hospital when your transmission is running rough? NO!
   • Do you call a plumber to fix your internet connection? NO!
   • Car title question? Call the tag and title office.
   • Estate, Will, Inheritance question? Call an estate attorney.
   • Power of Attorney for a bank account question? Call the bank.
   • Divorce or child custody form question? Call your family law attorney.
   • How to cook a Thanksgiving turkey? Butterball has a thanksgiving hotline- 1-800-BUTTERBALL (seriously) – but personally, I prefer mine smoked on a pellet grill to 165 degrees internal temperature!

A notary does two things, and two things only:
   1. Identify the signer of a document by looking at the signer’s government issued photo ID (or in special cases other identifying criteria), and make sure they are reasonably mentally capable of understanding what they are signing, and are doing so of their own free will. This does not require legal training.
   2. Issue oaths. We read or recite a statement and you respond with “Yes” or “No”.

That’s it. That’s all our job is. That is the full extent of what we do, or are allowed to do!

Yes, and some charge more. No one works for free.

As notaries, we must pay for liability and errors and omissions insurance, supplies, our state fees, office and advertising expense, and make a living.

We feel that we charge a reasonable price for the professional service we provide.

We carry liability and Errors and Omissions insurance that meet or exceed minimum requirements.

We stay up to date on notary laws and we are trusted by several area attorneys, title companies and care facilities to take care of their client’s needs in a professional and courteous manner.

There are notaries providing service that have not even read the state’s notary handbook, don’t keep required records, and will put their stamp on anything for a few dollars. If these documents are challenged in court, will they have the proper evidence to present to a judge that they performed their due diligence in notarizing the document?

We keep detailed records of every document and signer, even when not required by state law, so our clients can rest assured that our notarizations are beyond reproach. A notarization that doesn’t hold up in court isn’t worth anything!

A notary public is a state official; however, we are NOT paid by the state. In fact, we have to pay the state to be a notary public!

Banks often have a notary public on staff to handle their notary needs and will often allow that person to assist bank customers with their notary needs as a courtesy to their customers. While that employee is on the clock at the bank, the bank is compensating them and notary work is simply a part of their job description.

If your bank is willing to notarize your document for free, then take advantage of it! You don’t need to call us and tell us the bank notarizes for free. We are well aware of that.

Keep in mind that banks usually will not send their notary to your home, hospital, or nursing home, nor will they offer service after hours, holidays, etc.

Banks also don’t want to get their notaries involved in financial documents, powers of attorney, wills, real-estate documents and many other types of documents to avoid “conflicts of interest” or liability issues.

An independent Notary Public doesn’t have an employer paying us, and we are not limited by company policies as to the types of documents we may notarize.

As long as the document you have contains a state-legal notary certificate (Notary “wording”) we can most likely notarize it, provided the signer has proper identification, understands the document they are signing, are of legal age, and reasonably competent to sign a legal document.

If we feel that a signer is under duress (pressured to sign by someone else) or there is any indication of impairment or attempt at fraud we can legally refuse to notarize the document. It is the job of the notary to positively identify a signer, their willingness to sign and to prevent fraud.

YES!

As long as the document you have contains a state-legal notary certificate (Notary “wording”) we can most likely notarize it, provided the signer has proper identification, understands the document they are signing, are of legal age, and reasonably competent to sign a legal document.

If we feel that a signer is under duress (pressured to sign by someone else), if there is any indication of impairment or attempt at fraud, we can legally refuse to notarize the document. Appointment and travel fees may not be refunded in these cases.

It is the job of the notary to positively identify a signer, their willingness to sign, and to prevent fraud.

Simple answer: NO!

A notary stamp on a document means one of two things happened:
     1. A person signed a document in front of the notary public OR acknowledged that they signed the document.
or, 2. A person swore under oath (like in court) that the statements made in a document are true and/or correct.

A notary public is NOT concerned with the validity of a document.
We are only concerned with positively identifying the signer of a document, making sure they are signing of their own free will, are reasonably mentally capable of signing the document and issuing an oath (if the notarization requires an oath or is a sworn statement).

The validity (truthfulness) of a document is not scrutinized by a notary public. We are not judges or juries. We will typically only scan a document to make sure they are complete and that the name(s) match up to who is signing.

We aren’t concerned with the specific content. We don’t need the background story of why you need the document notarized.

You could actually write a document swearing (or affirming) that you own the Moon, and we can legally notarize it provided that you supply the proper identification and swear or affirm the document. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU OWN THE MOON! It means that you swore an oath, like in court, that you own the Moon.

If you don’t own the Moon (and most likely you don’t) you would have committed perjury, which is a punishable offense. If anyone were to challenge your document in court you could be guilty of perjury and possibly end up in jail.

Having a document Notarized is assurance (NOT INSURANCE) that the signer of a document has been properly identified and has acknowledged that the signature provided is their own, or that they have been sworn by a state official (Notary Public) that the statements in a document are true under penalty of perjury.

It is an additional step that courts, businesses and private parties may take to know that a document has been legitimately signed by the person claiming to sign it. The notarization is an extra measure of protection to prevent fraud or deceit.

NO!

As notaries we are often asked to “stamp” a document. Simply putting a notary stamp on a document means absolutely nothing.

We could put our stamp on a coconut, but what does a notarized coconut mean? It doesn’t make it any more or less of a coconut than it was before the stamp, just as the sheet of paper is nothing more or less than a sheet of paper before we stamped it.

For the notary stamp to actually mean something it MUST be accompanied by a statement indicating what the notary did.

For most documents, this means the notary received acknowledgement from the signer that they did indeed sign the document willingly, OR that the signer was asked by the notary to swear (or affirm) under oath that the statements in the document are true or correct.

This statement is called the “Notary Certificate” and must be on every document that we as notaries notarize. If the certificate is not included, we can add the appropriate wording at the direction of the person requesting the notary service or by the person or entity requesting the document. Because we at SteveDrives Notary Services are NOT attorneys, we cannot advise you as to which type of notarization your document requires if it does not already have the certificate printed.

Without both a notary certificate AND the notary stamp, either on its own is worthless. So, what does a notary certificate look like and does your document have one? Here are examples of the two basic forms of certificates- Jurats (sworn statements) and Acknowledgments. The examples below are very basic, but they both have some things in common such as a State and County where it took place, what the notary is doing, and a place for the notary to sign.

The wording may be quite a bit more or even less, but if your document has the general format of what you see below, your document has a proper notary certificate in most cases:
Acknowledgement: State Of Tennessee County Of Hawkins* On this, the________day of __________, 20____, before me a notary public 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. Signed___________________ My commission expires _______________

Jurat (Sworn Statement) State of Tennessee County of Hawkins* Subscribed and sworn before me by John Doe on January 1st, 2001. * Signed____________________ My commission expires _______________

*These items will be personalized with your information on your document

The document can be written in any language, but the notary certificate MUST be in ENGLISH for me to notarize it.

A notary can only notarize in a language that they speak. The NOTARY CERTIFICATE (The 'notary wording') must be in a language in which the notary fluently speaks. I only speak English; therefore, I can only notarize documents with a notary certificate printed in English, but the item being notarized may be in any language - even Klingon, if you like!