Credible Witnesses

You left out Tennessee. We can use two credible witnesses and we can proceed on having personally known the signer.

Interesting Denise - we've never run across the need for this in our 10 years - IN was not mentioned in your list either.

thanks for the info...

Sincerely,

Grace

I wouldn't use this is CA: It's not a form our CA Secretary of State is listed as a form to be used in CA. In CA the 1 or 2 credible witness(s)  sign our journal

These types of forms might be used in many other States; but, not in CA.

Denise,

Thanks for that post. I always love things that make my life easier. While I've never had this type of notary come up, now that I've seen this I bet I will. It's funny how that happens.

Have a good one,

Dennis

I do some public service notarizations and go to several medical facilities, ALS's & nursing homes, and here there are quite a few that have ID's that are expired and no way to get out  and get new ID's.  So this is an important necessity that I have used about 3-4 times in the last three years.

Hi Denise,

I also have never seen this affidavit.  Although, of course, I do have the credible witnesses raise their right hand and swear to the declarations.  I journal their identification and have them sign the journal also as required.  Usually, if CW's are being used for someone signing loan documents, I make a note (to send with the docs) stating that credible witnesses were used to identify the signer.  I also state in the note the difference between the name on the docs and the name on the ID that was unusable.  

For the signer, I mark credible witnesses under "Method of Identification" and in the "Additional Information" area I will also write in the name on ID, the identifing number and the expiration date of the ID not used.  This is not necessary, but you never know when or if the identification will ever be questioned. 

In CA the oath and journaling are sufficient, but I can see how using this affidavit could be informational to the person(s) receiving the document.  The wording would need to be changed to comply with recent notary law.  I don't see any reason why this couldn't be used though, as the witnesses are basically signing their names to the declarations that are given in the oath and then a jurat is added stating that they were present, swore to the oath, and presented acceptable ID. 

Hi Denise,

I apologize.  I just re-read the first part of the affidavit and realized that the notary's name cannot be included in the above statement as written. 

It should read:  Under the penalties of perjury, I declare that the person appearing before me, (NAME OF CREDIBLE WITNESS), and the notary public, is (NAME OF SIGNER).  He/She is the signer of the document; is personally known by me; he/she is the person named in the document requiring notarization; that I believe the person does not possess the required identification; that I believe it would be difficult or impossible for this person to obtain such identification; and that I do not have a financial interest in and am not a party to the underlying transaction.

SIGNATURE OF CREDIBLE WITNESS

This is just an example.  If using the wording in this example you would need a separate copy for each witness. 

 The way it is written in the example you gave, it appears to have the notary swearing to the oath.  If this is changed to having the witnesses swearing to the oath, then I will stand by my previous reply.

FYI

In WA we can use a credible witness to establish identification of a signer whose ID has expired.

The credible witness must be PERSONALLY KNOWN to both the signer and the notary.

This is a tough requirement.  I have been able to use it only twice in the last 5 years.

A Credible Witness Affidavit is not required in CA;  the Notary has to  personaly know this person and get his/her  I. D. information in your notary journal and have the witness sign your journal

Denise,

I sort of side with Joan in terms of it being an unnecessary item (required or not as in CA).  I believe whole-heartedly that the NNA continues to be far more interested in their bottom line than in providing actual assistance to the membership it serves.  BGC's, Certifications and lots of really unneeded product has become their mantra...

I'd really like to see them focus their efforts on finding notaries more work verses working on how to milk the membership for more "add-ons"...just an opinion.

"A Quick Note"

www.aquicknote.net

I am not comfortable notarizing people without an identification--so I just decline. 

If you are mobile notary (CA) you can decline any notarization, but if you are in a stand alone location (such as CPA office or mail box store/etc ) remember you are a public official' and you must follow the law and notarize for the client if they have the fee required when using 1 or 2 credible witnesses.

In CA you can be sued (DUH by the client) but you can also be fined $750 and your commission could be suspended or revoked by our CA Sec of State.

Denise, for whatever reason, I did not respond to you back when you answered my comment, but for other notaries that may not know, I will answer now. 

This is a direct quote from the TN State Notary Handbook:

“Satisfactory evidence” is defined as the absence of any 

information, evidence, or other circumstances that would lead 

a reasonable person to believe that the person making the 

acknowledgment is not the individual he or she claims to be, 

together with any one of the following:

1. The oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally known 

to the officer that the person making the acknowledgment is 

personally known to the witness. [This should be in the form 

of an affidavit discussed earlier.

So, TN does allow credible witnesses and does require an affidavit, despite what the NNA says.

The TN State Notary Handbook may be found in .pdf format here.

Also, in TN to use a credible witness the CW must also be known by the notary and the signer.

I wrote an article on this topic in my Colorado Notary Blog at Credible Witness Affidavit.  Colorado adopted new RULONA notary laws on July 1, 2018. The new law requires the credible witness to sign an affidavit, not just make a verbal sworn statement.

The affidavit form from the Georgia notary regulator indicates the affidavit should be attached to the notarized document of the person being identified by the credible witness.