SECTION 5: The Notary Journal

As you know, Notaries Public are not authorized to keep copies of the documents they notarize. Some states require Notaries to maintain journals and some don't; however, the best way to protect yourself as a Notary Public is to document your notarial acts in a journal. Journals contain columns for recording information such as the following:

• The date and time of the notarial act;
• The type of document being notarized;
• The type of notarial act:
  • Oath,
  • Acknowledgment,
  • Attested photocopy,
  • Etc.;
• The name or brief description of the document;
• The signer's printed name, exactly as he or she signed the document;
• The signer's address;
• The signer's signature;
• The type of identification relied upon to identify the signer, including any identifying numbers, expiration dates, date of birth, etc.;
• The fee charged for the signing service;
• Fingerprint/thumbprint space; and
• Any additional comments you consider important, such as if you used a loose notarial certificate for that particular document, the client's (lender's) name, etc.

Numerous notary journals are available on the market today, and they all have similar features. Whatever journal you decide to purchase, make sure your journal is bound (not loose leaf) and contains consecutively numbered pages so that a page cannot be removed without detection. Your journal must be completely filled out and signed prior to completing the loan signing.

EVERY DOCUMENT NOTARIZED MUST BE RECORDED. The journal entry should not make a generic statement such as:

"Loan documents signed by John Doe August 17th."

Every line should be filled out completely listing each page the borrower signed and you notarized. For instance, the August 17^th loan signing appointment with John Doe should be reflected in your journal in the following manner:

It is permissible in most states however, for the borrower to sign only once indicating that he/she has signed all of the documents listed in the closing journal entry. For the entries above, you would draw a diagonal line through the "Signature of Individual" column and allow the borrower to sign diagonally on that line once, indicating that he/she acknowledges signing all the documents as listed.