Notarial Acts and Powers
Notarial Acts and Powers
This domain tests what a Missouri notary may lawfully do, the conditions for each act, and the limits on authority. The exam favors scenario questions: may the notary perform this act for this signer, in this setting, with this document?
Core rules
- Missouri notaries may take acknowledgments, administer oaths and affirmations, execute jurats, witness or attest signatures, and certify copies of tangible documents. Each act requires the signer to appear personally before the notary.
- For an acknowledgment, the signer need not sign in the notary's presence, but must personally appear and acknowledge the signature. For a jurat, the signer must sign and swear or affirm in the notary's presence.
- The notary must identify the signer by personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence and must determine that the signer appears competent and acts voluntarily.
- A notary may not certify a copy of a public record, such as a birth certificate, court record, or recorded deed. Copy certification is for ordinary tangible documents, not public records.
- Missouri caps the fee for a notarial act at $5. A notary may not charge extra for the seal, travel, or processing as if those were separate notarial acts.
Worked example
A customer brings a photocopy of her Missouri birth certificate and asks for a certified copy. The notary must refuse. A birth certificate is a public record, and copy certification by a notary is not permitted for public records. The customer should request a certified copy from the vital records agency. If she instead signs a routine consent form and appears before the notary, the notary may notarize her signature using the correct certificate.
Traps
The biggest trap is notarizing without personal appearance, including just checking the ID for an absent signer. Another is using a jurat when only an acknowledgment was requested, or vice versa. Do not certify public records or give legal advice about the document's effect.