Prohibited Acts, Conflicts of Interest, and Ethical Conduct
Conflicts and self-dealing
A notary may not notarize their own signature and may not act in a transaction where the notary is a party or has a direct beneficial interest. The same caution applies to close family and to employer documents where the notary gains. The test is impartiality: if the notary's interest could affect the act, decline and send the signer to another notary.
Prohibited conduct
Do not give legal advice, draft legal documents, select a document for a signer, or explain what a document means. Do not notarize a blank or incomplete document, a signature not made in your presence, or a certificate you know is false. Do not charge more than the statutory maximum fee ($5 per notarial act). Do not use a notary commission to pressure or deceive anyone.
Worked example
A bank employee who is a notary is asked to notarize her own mother's affidavit in a matter where the employee is a beneficiary. She declines: the family relationship and her beneficial interest create a conflict. A coworker notarizes instead, with the mother present and identified.
Traps
- "The signer is my spouse, so I can do it as a courtesy."
- Notarizing an employer's document where the notary personally benefits.
- Offering a legal opinion to be helpful.
- Charging more than $5 for a notarial act and labeling the excess as something else.