The Missing Journal Entry
Priya, an Alaska notary, keeps a paper journal. Over a busy month she performed 47 notarizations, but she only recorded 41 of them in her journal. Six entries are missing: two acknowledgments, three jurats, and one signature witnessing. She realizes this when a title company asks her to confirm details of a deed she notarized three weeks ago. Priya remembers the deed generally but cannot recall the signer's ID type or the exact date. She is tempted to reconstruct the six missing entries from memory and backdate them so the journal looks complete. Her commission renewal is next month, and she worries that an incomplete journal will look bad.
1. What are Priya's obligations regarding the missing entries, and may she reconstruct and backdate them?
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Priya has a duty to maintain accurate, contemporaneous records. She may not fabricate or backdate entries she did not make at the time. Reconstructing from memory and writing an earlier date would create a false record - a prohibited act and potentially fraud. The honest approach is to document what she actually knows now, clearly labeled as a later-added note, and to explain the gap if asked.
She should review any available evidence (the notarized documents themselves, text messages, calendar, receipts) to accurately describe what occurred, but she should not invent ID details or dates she cannot verify. If she cannot verify a detail, she should say so rather than guess.
2. The title company needs confirmation of the deed notarization. How should Priya respond, and what should she do about the journal gap going forward?
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Priya should confirm only what she can verify from the document and any contemporaneous records, and she should be transparent that her journal entry for that act is incomplete. She should not certify details she cannot substantiate. She can provide a written statement of what she recalls and what records support, clearly distinguishing verified facts from recollection.
Going forward, she should adopt a discipline of recording each act immediately, and she should consider a checklist or sequential numbering to prevent gaps. If Alaska rules require production of the journal, she should produce it as-is with an explanation of the gap rather than alter it. Concealing the gap is worse than disclosing it.