Paralegal Mistake #3: Notarize Documents Without Proper Identification

Paralegal Mistake #3:  Notarize Documents Without Proper Identification

Notarize Documents Without Proper Identification

There are normally two choices when notarizing a document:

  1. If the person signing the document is unknown to the assistant, an official I.D. must be presented; or
  2. If the person signing the document is personally known to the assistant, no identification is needed.

There have been times in my paralegal career where fellow staff members alerted me to a particular attorney’s expectation that I would be required to notarize a client’s signature without proper identification.

Of course, I wouldn’t follow that course of action.

My solution was to simply advise the attorney ahead of time that I made it a practice to abide by the rules in my state governing notary publics. I simply drew a line and was never asked to cross it.

By Leslie Williams

Leslie Sansone Williams is a #1 International Best Selling author of "Legal Break-In" and the author of the "Paralegal Career Secrets BlackBook" (pdf). She is the creator of the Paralegal Inner Circle Class, Cover Letter Secrets Class & Job Hunt Kit Class. Her podcast, Paralegal Coffee Talk is available on Spotify. Leslie shares her Paralegal career knowledge via regular videos on the Paralegal Coffee Talk page on Facebook. Leslie has 31+ years experience in the paralegal, publishing & marketing careers. She has worked in the following areas of law: condemnation litigation, probate, estate planning, personal injury (catastrophic and medical malpractice), administrative law, franchise law, professional regulation, zoning, automobile dealership franchise law and business litigation.

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