Notarial Powers and Duties
Authorized acts
New Hampshire notaries perform the notarial acts authorized by statute, commonly acknowledgments, oaths and affirmations, affidavits, depositions, and protests. The notary's job is procedural: establish the signer's identity, ensure the signer appears and acts voluntarily, administer the required oath or acknowledgment, and complete a truthful certificate. A notary does not validate the legal effect of the document or give legal advice.
Duties at the table
Require personal appearance unless a specific law authorizes remote action. Check identity with satisfactory evidence; a familiar face still needs a proper certificate. Watch for blank documents, pressure, confusion, or a signer who cannot understand the act. Refuse if the signer is not present or is signing under duress. Never notarize your own signature or a document in which you are a signer.
Worked example
A woman brings a power of attorney and says her brother signed it at home. The notary must not backdate an acknowledgment. The brother must appear, be identified, and acknowledge his signature. The notary completes the certificate with the actual date. The reasoning: an acknowledgment certifies the signer's appearance and voluntary execution, not merely that the signature looks genuine.
Traps
Notarizing a blank or incomplete document. Using a certificate that does not match the act. Accepting an expired ID without checking the form's rules. Treating a notary seal as proof of legal validity.