IL Notary - Illinois Notary Exam Notary Journal Record-Keeping Standards 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: If an Illinois notary's journal is lost or stolen, what must the notary do?
- Immediately purchase a new journal and continue recording acts without further action
- Notify the Illinois Secretary of State in writing as soon as reasonably practicable (Correct answer)
- File a police report and wait for law enforcement to recover the journal before notarizing again
- Notify only the clients whose records appeared in the journal
Correct answer: Notify the Illinois Secretary of State in writing as soon as reasonably practicable
Illinois law requires a notary to notify the Secretary of State in writing when a journal is lost or stolen. This creates an official record that may protect the notary if the lost journal is later used for fraudulent purposes.
Question 2: To whom does an Illinois notary's journal belong if the notary is employed by a company that purchased the journal?
- The employer, because the employer paid for the journal
- The Illinois Secretary of State, as the commissioning authority
- The notary, regardless of who purchased it (Correct answer)
- Joint ownership between the notary and the employer
Correct answer: The notary, regardless of who purchased it
The journal is the personal property of the notary, not the employer. An employer cannot retain or confiscate a notary's journal when employment ends, even if the employer paid for it.
Question 3: What type of instrument is required for maintaining an Illinois notary journal?
- Any notebook, including loose-leaf binders, as long as entries are dated
- A permanently bound book with sequentially numbered pages (Correct answer)
- A digital spreadsheet stored on the employer's server
- A pre-printed government-issued form obtained from the Secretary of State
Correct answer: A permanently bound book with sequentially numbered pages
Illinois requires the journal to be a permanently bound book with sequentially numbered pages. This format prevents pages from being added, removed, or rearranged, preserving the integrity of the record.
Question 4: How should an Illinois notary correct an error discovered in a previously completed journal entry?
- Use correction fluid (white-out) to cover the error and write the correct information over it
- Remove the page and rewrite the entry on a fresh page
- Draw a single line through the incorrect information, write the correct information nearby, and initial the correction (Correct answer)
- Leave the error as written; journal entries may never be altered once completed
Correct answer: Draw a single line through the incorrect information, write the correct information nearby, and initial the correction
Errors should be corrected by drawing a single line through the mistake so the original entry remains legible, then writing the correct information and initialing the change. Obliterating entries undermines the evidentiary value of the journal.
Question 5: When a notarization involves a deed or other document conveying real property in Illinois, what additional item may the notary be required to record in the journal?
- A color photocopy of the signer's government-issued identification
- The signer's right thumbprint impression (Correct answer)
- The full Social Security number of each signer
- A witness signature from a disinterested third party
Correct answer: The signer's right thumbprint impression
For high-risk documents such as deeds conveying real property, Illinois law may require the notary to obtain and record the signer's right thumbprint in the journal. This provides an additional layer of identity verification for transactions that are frequent targets of fraud.
Question 6: An Illinois notary dies while still holding an active commission. What should happen to the notary's journal?
- The journal should be destroyed immediately to protect the privacy of the notary's clients
- The journal should be retained by the notary's employer as a business record
- The journal should be transmitted to the county clerk of the county where the notary was commissioned or resided (Correct answer)
- The journal automatically becomes the property of the state and must be mailed to the Secretary of State within 24 hours
Correct answer: The journal should be transmitted to the county clerk of the county where the notary was commissioned or resided
Upon the death or permanent incapacity of a notary, the journal should be delivered to the county clerk for preservation. This ensures the record remains accessible for any future legal proceedings that may require it.
IL Notary - Illinois Notary Exam Notary Journal Record-Keeping Standards 1
If an Illinois notary's journal is lost or stolen, what must the notary do?