Notarial Acts and Procedures Flashcards

A signer brings a document already signed at home and asks a Mississippi notary for an acknowledgment. What must the notary require before completing the act?

Answer: The signer must appear personally and acknowledge the signature is theirs

For an acknowledgment, the signature may be made beforehand, but the signer must personally appear and acknowledge that the signature is their own voluntary act.

Which notarial act requires the signer to sign the document in the notary's presence?

Answer: A verification on oath or affirmation (jurat)

A jurat requires the signer to sign in the notary's presence after taking an oath or affirmation that the contents are true.

Under Mississippi law, when must the notarial certificate be completed?

Answer: Contemporaneously with the performance of the notarial act

Mississippi's Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts requires the certificate to be executed at the same time the notarial act is performed.

A Mississippi notary is asked to notarize a deed in which the notary is named as the grantee. What should the notary do?

Answer: Refuse, because a notary may not notarize a document in which they have a disqualifying interest

A notary may not perform a notarial act on a record in which the notary is a party or has a direct beneficial interest.

What is the difference between an oath and an affirmation in a Mississippi notarization?

Answer: An oath invokes a deity while an affirmation is a solemn promise on personal honor

An oath appeals to a Supreme Being, while an affirmation is an equally binding solemn declaration made on one's personal honor, and the signer may choose either.

When witnessing or attesting a signature, what must the Mississippi notary personally observe or verify?

Answer: That the individual signed the record in the notary's presence and is the person identified

Witnessing a signature requires the signer to appear, be identified, and sign the record in the notary's presence.

A signer appears with a document written in Spanish, which the Mississippi notary cannot read. The notary and signer communicate well in English. May the notary proceed?

Answer: Yes, if the notary can identify the signer and communicate directly with them, since the notary certifies the act, not the contents

Mississippi notaries certify the signer's identity and the notarial act itself, not the document's contents, so a foreign-language document may be notarized if the notary and signer can communicate directly.