The Expired License and the Insistent Signer
Margaret is a commissioned Maine notary public working in Portland. Daniel arrives at her office with a signed deed and asks for an acknowledgment. Margaret has never met Daniel. He presents a Maine driver's license that expired four years ago and a warehouse-club membership card with his photo but no signature. Daniel says he is the person named in the deed and offers to have his ex-wife confirm his identity by phone. He is impatient because the registry closes soon. Margaret's journal is open, and she has her stamp. She wants to help but is unsure whether the documents she has seen are enough.
1. May Margaret treat the expired driver's license and the warehouse-club card as satisfactory evidence of identity?
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No. Maine requires a notary to identify a signer by personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence. Satisfactory evidence normally means a current government-issued identification credential with a photograph and signature. A license expired four years ago is not a reliable current credential, and a warehouse-club membership card is not government-issued. Margaret has no personal knowledge of Daniel. She should not treat this combination as satisfactory evidence, especially for a deed where identity and authority matter.
2. May Margaret rely on the ex-wife's phone confirmation?
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No. A phone call does not satisfy personal appearance for identification purposes, and the ex-wife is not appearing before Margaret as a credible witness. Even if the ex-wife personally knew Daniel, her statement by phone is not the kind of satisfactory evidence Maine expects. A credible witness must ordinarily appear before the notary and be personally known to the notary, and the notary must be satisfied that the witness is credible and has direct knowledge of the signer. A phone confirmation from an ex-spouse also raises credibility concerns.
3. What should Margaret do in this situation?
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She should decline to notarize unless Daniel produces acceptable current government-issued photo identification or a credible witness appears in person and meets Maine's requirements. She should explain the identification rule briefly and without accusing him of wrongdoing. She should not stamp the deed, should not record a notarization in her journal as completed, and should not accept the phone confirmation. If Daniel returns with proper identification, she can complete the acknowledgment, record the required journal entry, and attach or complete the correct acknowledgment certificate.