Commission Before Stamping: Adjacent-State Applicant
Dana is 18 and lives in Michigan, five miles from the Indiana line. She works full-time at an Indiana logistics company in South Bend, where her supervisor has asked her to notarize employment verifications and occasional affidavits. Dana submits an Indiana notary application, pays the required fee, and receives a letter from the Secretary of State approving her application. The same week, a coworker asks her to notarize a signature on a vehicle title. Dana has a stamp made showing her name, 'Notary Public,' 'State of Indiana,' a commission number, and an expiration date, but she has not taken the oath or filed the required surety bond with the county clerk. She believes the approval letter is her commission and stamps the title. The coworker later asks whether the title is valid and how long Dana's commission will last.
1. Was Dana eligible to apply for an Indiana notary commission based on her age and Michigan residency? Explain.
Read the worked answer
Eligibility turns on two separate requirements. Age: Indiana requires a notary applicant to be at least 18, so Dana's age is not a barrier. Residency: Indiana generally requires an applicant to be an Indiana resident or a resident of a state that borders Indiana who has a principal place of business or employment in Indiana. Dana lives in Michigan, which borders Indiana, and works full-time for an Indiana employer in South Bend. That employment connection satisfies the adjacent-state route, assuming the other qualifications (application, fee, bond, oath, and no disqualifying history) are met. The fact that she works in Indiana, not merely that she crosses the border, is the key detail. She is therefore eligible to apply, but eligibility to apply is not the same as authority to notarize.
2. Could Dana lawfully notarize the vehicle title at the point described? What steps were still required before she could perform notarial acts?
Read the worked answer
No. An approval letter is not a commission, and it does not authorize notarial acts. Before Dana may act, she must complete the commissioning steps: take the required oath and file the required surety bond with the county clerk, after which the commission is issued. Until that happens she is a private person, not a notary. Stamping the vehicle title on the strength of the approval letter is an unauthorized notarial act. The title's notarization is defective and a relying party such as the BMV or a buyer should reject it. Dana should not try to fix it by changing the date or re-stamping later; the signer should appear before a properly commissioned notary. The coworker should be told the truth, and Dana should stop using the stamp until her commission is effective.
3. If Dana completes the process, how long is her commission and what must her seal contain?
Read the worked answer
Once commissioned, Dana's term is eight years. Her seal must be legible and must contain her name, the words Notary Public, the words State of Indiana, her commission number, and the commission's expiration date. The setup says her stamp already has those elements, but the expiration date and commission number must match the actual commission, not the approval letter or an old commission. If she uses an embosser, she still must comply with Indiana's seal requirements, including a legible impression. She may perform only the notarial acts authorized by Indiana law, must require personal appearance, and must not notarize her own signature or a document in which she has a beneficial interest.