Notarial Acts and Certificates
A notarial act is the official act the notary performs, such as taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation for a jurat, certifying a copy, or witnessing a signature. The certificate is the written evidence of that act and must accurately state what was done, by whom, where, and when. The certificate should be attached or logically associated with the document and should never be pre-dated, back-dated, or completed before the signer appears.
Candidates must distinguish acknowledgments from jurats and from signature witnessing. An acknowledgment certifies that the signer personally appeared, was identified, and acknowledged executing the document voluntarily for its stated purpose; the signer need not sign in the notary's presence. A jurat certifies that the signer appeared, swore or affirmed the truth of the contents, and signed in the notary's presence. Signature witnessing certifies only that the signer appeared and signed. Each requires different certificate language.
The certificate should contain the venue, the date, the signer's name, the notary's signature and title, the commission expiration, and the seal or stamp where required. Traps include using a jurat form for an acknowledgment (or vice versa), omitting the venue or date, signing a blank certificate, using a seal that is illegible or missing the commission expiration, and correcting errors by obliteration rather than a dated correction. Some states require the certificate language to substantially conform to statute; minor deviations may be tolerated but material errors are not.
Rule of thumb: the certificate must describe what actually happened. Worked example: a notary completes a jurat for an affidavit but the signer never raised a hand or affirmed; the certificate is false and the notary must not issue it.