A Jurat on Last Night's Signatures and a Name That Doesn't Match the ID
An Oregon notary is asked to complete a closing package for a Washington lender. The pre-printed certificate on the deed of trust reads: 'State of ______ County of ______ Subscribed and sworn to before me on ______ by ______. [seal] Notary Public. My commission expires ______.' The borrowers signed the documents at their kitchen table the night before, and the closing instructions say the notary 'must witness all signatures.' One borrower's ID reads 'Katherine A. Ruiz-Ortiz'; she signed 'Kathy Ruiz.' The venue lines are blank, and the notary is unsure whether to fill in the lender's Seattle address or her own location in Clackamas County. The package contains no separate acknowledgment form.
1. What type of certificate is this, what does it require, and can it be completed for signatures made last night?
Read the worked answer
It is a jurat. 'Subscribed and sworn to before me' is oath language: the notary certifies the signer appeared, was administered an oath or affirmation, and swore to the truth of the document.
What a jurat requires:
- Personal appearance of the signer before the notary at the time of the act.
- Administration of the oath or affirmation.
- Signing in the notary's presence (or the signer's affirmation of the signature under oath in the notary's presence, depending on how the oath is framed).
Last night's signatures will not support this certificate. A jurat is not a signature-authentication device for a document signed elsewhere; the whole point is that the oath and the signing happened before the officer. Completing it as written would certify something that did not occur.
Fixes: have the borrowers sign the deed of trust again in the notary's presence and administer the oath, or attach a properly worded Oregon jurat certificate to the document and have the signers appear and swear. If the lender will accept an acknowledgment instead, that requires a written acknowledgment certificate - but the notary cannot simply swap the act because the form's language is inconvenient.
2. How should the venue lines and the notary's identifying details be completed?
Read the worked answer
Venue = where the act happens. Fill in the state and county where the signers actually appear before the notary - here, the State of Oregon and Clackamas County. The lender's Seattle address is irrelevant and inserting it would falsely state the place of the act.
Notary's block:
- Signature of the notary.
- Name as commissioned and commission number, if the form provides for them.
- Commission expiration date.
- The official stamp impression, placed so it does not obscure the text.
If the pre-printed certificate lacks room for the commission number or the notary's printed name, add them adjacent to the signature line or attach a compliant certificate - the required elements must appear on the instrument.
Also verify the certificate date matches the actual date of appearance and oath, not the date the borrowers first signed at home.
3. How should the name discrepancy be handled - on the certificate and in the journal?
Read the worked answer
Do not alter the document or 'correct' the signature. Katherine signed as Kathy; that is her signature and it stays as written.
On the certificate: the notary identifies the person who appeared. The cleanest practice is to name her as she signed and note the variance: 'Kathy Ruiz (also known as Katherine A. Ruiz-Ortiz).' Some notaries simply use the signature name. What is not acceptable is certifying to a name the notary has not tied to the person in front of her.
In the journal: record the full legal name from the ID, the name as signed if different, the ID type and number and expiration, and a note such as 'signed as Kathy Ruiz - AKA Katherine A. Ruiz-Ortiz.' That entry is the notary's defense if the signature is later challenged.
Reasoning to apply generally: the certificate tells the world who appeared and what the notary did; the journal preserves the evidentiary detail behind that statement. Discrepancies belong in the journal and, if material, in a parenthetical on the certificate - never in a silent edit to the signer's name.