RI Notary Notarial Acts and Procedures 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Rhode Island's Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, which notarial act certifies that a signer appeared before the notary and acknowledged signing a document willingly?
- An acknowledgment (Correct answer)
- A jurat
- A copy certification
- A protest
Correct answer: An acknowledgment
An acknowledgment certifies the signer personally appeared and declared they signed the record voluntarily.
Question 2: A signer brings a document to a Rhode Island notary that was signed a week earlier. Which notarial act may still be performed on it?
- An acknowledgment (Correct answer)
- A jurat
- A verification on oath
- An oath of office
Correct answer: An acknowledgment
For an acknowledgment the signature may be made beforehand, as long as the signer personally appears and acknowledges it.
Question 3: When performing a jurat, what must the Rhode Island notary require the signer to do?
- Sign the document in the notary's presence and take an oath or affirmation (Correct answer)
- Simply acknowledge a prior signature
- Provide two witnesses
- Surrender the original identification document
Correct answer: Sign the document in the notary's presence and take an oath or affirmation
A jurat requires the signer to sign in the notary's presence and swear or affirm that the contents are true.
Question 4: Which element is NOT required in a Rhode Island notarial certificate?
- The signer's home address (Correct answer)
- The notary's signature
- The date of the notarial act
- The jurisdiction (state and county) where the act was performed
Correct answer: The signer's home address
The certificate must include the notary's signature, date, venue, and commission information, but not the signer's home address.
Question 5: A document presented for notarization contains blank spaces. What should the Rhode Island notary do?
- Refuse to notarize until the blanks are completed or struck through (Correct answer)
- Notarize and let the signer fill in the blanks later
- Fill in the blanks personally with reasonable guesses
- Notarize only the completed pages
Correct answer: Refuse to notarize until the blanks are completed or struck through
Notarizing an incomplete record risks fraud, so blanks must be filled in or lined through before the act.
Question 6: Which of the following is a proper method for a Rhode Island notary to identify a signer who has no identification documents?
- Verification on the oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally known to the notary (Correct answer)
- Accepting the signer's verbal assurance of identity
- Checking the signer's social media profile
- Comparing the signature to one on the document itself
Correct answer: Verification on the oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally known to the notary
A credible witness who is personally known and swears to the signer's identity is a lawful identification method.
Question 7: What should a Rhode Island notary do if asked to notarize a signature on a document written in a language the notary cannot read?
- Proceed with caution only if the notarial certificate itself is in a language the notary can read (Correct answer)
- Always refuse because foreign-language documents cannot be notarized
- Translate the document before notarizing
- Notarize only after a court approves the document
Correct answer: Proceed with caution only if the notarial certificate itself is in a language the notary can read
The notary certifies the signature and the certificate, not the document's content, so the certificate must be understandable to the notary.
RI Notary Notarial Acts and Procedures 2
Under Rhode Island's Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, which notarial act certifies that a signer appeared before the notary and acknowledged signing a document willingly?