Ohio Notary Notarial Certificates and Seal 1 Flashcards

Which of the following statements about an Ohio notary seal is correct?

Answer: The seal may be either an inked stamp or an embosser, but must be legible on the document

Ohio law permits notaries to use either an inked rubber stamp or an embosser as their official seal, provided the impression is legible and meets statutory content requirements.

When completing a jurat certificate in Ohio, what action must the signer perform in the notary's presence?

Answer: Sign the document and take an oath or affirmation that the contents are true

A jurat requires the signer to both sign the document before the notary and take an oath or affirmation attesting to the truthfulness of the document's contents — both acts must occur in the notary's presence.

An Ohio notary realizes after completing a notarial certificate that they misspelled a word in the certificate. What is the proper course of action?

Answer: Draw a single line through the error, initial it, and write the correction

Minor corrections to a notarial certificate should be made by drawing a single line through the error, initialing the correction, and writing in the correct information — this maintains document integrity while correcting the mistake.

Which element is NOT required to appear in an Ohio notarial certificate for an acknowledgment?

Answer: The purchase price of any property described in the document

An Ohio acknowledgment certificate must include the venue (county and state), the date, the name of the signer, the notary's signature and seal, and the commission expiration date — but financial details of the underlying transaction are not part of the certificate.

An Ohio notary is asked to notarize a document for a person who has already signed it before appearing before the notary. For an acknowledgment, this is:

Answer: Permissible — the signer may acknowledge a previously made signature before the notary

An acknowledgment does not require the signer to sign in the notary's presence. The signer need only appear before the notary and acknowledge that the signature on the document is their own, even if it was affixed earlier.

What information must an Ohio notary include when completing the venue section at the top of a notarial certificate?

Answer: The state and county where the notarial act is being performed

The venue identifies the jurisdiction in which the notarial act takes place and must state the state (Ohio) and the specific county. It establishes the legal authority under which the notary is acting.