The Emailed Power of Attorney and the Expired License
Marcus holds an Ohio notary commission and works at a credit union branch in Springfield. A member he has waited on twice emails him a signed power of attorney bearing a certificate that reads "Sworn to and subscribed before me." The member says he is in Florida for six weeks and asks Marcus to "stamp it and drop it in the mail." Attached to the email is a photo of the member's Ohio driver's license showing an expiration date fourteen months in the past. A coworker shrugs: "He's a regular, we have his signature on file - just do it." The next afternoon the member's adult daughter walks in with the same document and asks Marcus to notarize it so it can go out overnight.
1. Can Marcus notarize the power of attorney while the member is in Florida? Explain what would have to be true for a lawful remote notarial act, and why emailing a document for a stamp does or does not satisfy it.
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No. The certificate reads "sworn to and subscribed," which is a jurat. A jurat certifies three things: the signer appeared personally before the notary, was identified, and took an oath or affirmation that the contents are true. Marcus cannot administer an oath by email, and he cannot certify an appearance that did not happen.
Reasoning:
- Personal appearance is the core of the act. Ohio permits a remote appearance only through online notarization, which requires the notary to be registered/authorized with the Secretary of State and to use an approved system that performs identity proofing, captures the audio-video session, and preserves a recording. A phone call, a video chat on a personal app, or an emailed PDF is none of those.
- Even if the document only needed an acknowledgment (which is the more likely fit for a power of attorney), the signer must still appear and state that the signature is his own and voluntary.
- The certificate itself is likely the wrong one for the transaction. Marcus must not paper over the mismatch; the correct act must be selected and the correct certificate completed.
- Notarizing without appearance is a violation of the notary's duties and exposes Marcus to commission discipline and civil liability, and gives the document a defect that third parties can attack later.
Correct response: tell the member no, explain online notarization if Marcus is authorized for it, or tell him to see an Ohio notary where he is or wait until he returns.
2. Is the expired license plus the credit union's signature card satisfactory evidence of identity? What are Marcus's realistic options?
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Not satisfactory. Ohio requires satisfactory evidence of identity, which means either (a) the notary personally knows the signer, or (b) the signer presents a current government-issued identification card.
Applying it:
- A signature card on file proves the credit union has a signature; it says nothing about who is standing (or not standing) in front of the notary. It is not identification for notarial purposes.
- Two teller interactions are thin. Genuine personal knowledge means Marcus could describe the person and would recognize him; he should ask himself that question honestly and document the basis if he relies on it.
- A license expired fourteen months is stale. The safest course is to require current, unexpired photo identification and record the type, number, and expiration in the journal.
- The coworker's assurance is not evidence. A notary may not delegate the identification judgment.
Options: decline until a current ID is produced; or, if Marcus genuinely knows the member, rely on personal knowledge and write down exactly why.
3. The member's daughter arrives with the document. What may Marcus do for her, and what may he not do?
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What he may do: notarize her signature if the power of attorney authorizes her to sign for her father, she appears personally before Marcus, she is satisfactorily identified, and the notarial certificate is corrected to show that she appeared as attorney-in-fact for the named principal.
What he may not do:
- Stamp the certificate naming her father as the person who appeared. He did not appear. That would be a false certification, no matter how convenient.
- Alter the existing certificate to disguise who actually appeared, or leave the original certificate in place and simply add a stamp.
- Accept her signature without confirming her authority on the face of the document and without identifying her.
Practical steps: identify the daughter, confirm the document's signing authority language, prepare a new, accurate certificate for the act performed (acknowledgment if she is acknowledging her own signature as agent), record the details in the journal, and tell the family that the original emailed document cannot be notarized for the father while he is in Florida.