The Missing Journal Entry and the Lost Certificate Copy
Andre has been a commissioned Illinois notary for six years, working mostly from a home office. He keeps a paper journal in which he records each notarial act: date, type of act, signer's name, and identification presented. Last month he notarized a signature on a deed of trust for a lender. He remembers the signer, a woman named Ms. Okafor, and recalls that she presented a valid Illinois driver's license. But when Andre opens his journal to check, he finds that the page for that week is blank - he apparently forgot to record the entry. He also cannot locate his copy of the certificate. The lender now asks Andre to confirm the details of the notarization for its file. Andre's commission is current, and his bond is in force.
1. What records is Andre required to keep for notarial acts, and what is the consequence of the missing journal entry?
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Andre is required to maintain a journal of notarial acts that records, at minimum, the date of the act, the type of act, the name of the signer, and the identification relied upon (or the basis for satisfactory identification). The journal is the notary's contemporaneous record and is the primary evidence that the act was properly performed.
The missing entry is a compliance failure. It does not retroactively invalidate a notarization that was in fact properly performed, but it removes Andre's best evidence of what happened. If the notarization is later challenged, Andre will have to rely on memory and any other records - a much weaker position. He should not fabricate an entry now and backdate it; that would convert a recordkeeping lapse into a false record.
2. The lender asks Andre to 'confirm the details' of the notarization. What may Andre properly say, and what may he not do?
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Andre may truthfully state what he personally recalls: that Ms. Okafor appeared before him, that he identified her by a valid Illinois driver's license, and the date on which the act occurred, if he is confident of it. He should be clear about the limits of his recollection and should not overstate certainty.
He may not create a new journal entry dated to the original week, reconstruct a certificate and present it as the original, or certify details he does not actually remember. Supplying a false record to a lender is official misconduct and could expose Andre to liability if the lender relies on it. If the lender needs a certified copy, Andre should explain that he does not have one and that the original certificate is the operative document.
3. Going forward, what should Andre change about his practice?
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Andre should make the journal entry at the time of each notarial act, before the signer leaves, and should retain a copy of each certificate. He should keep the journal in a secure place and preserve it for the required retention period. A simple checklist - confirm identity, administer the oath or take the acknowledgment, complete the certificate, record the journal entry, retain a copy - prevents the gap that occurred here.
He should also review whether his bond and commission records are current and organized, since those documents are part of the same compliance picture. The exam tests whether a candidate treats recordkeeping as a duty, not an afterthought.