Before you go
- Talk to whoever booked it, and to the signer if you can. Is the signer expecting you, and able to talk with you? What is the document, and which act does its certificate ask for? Does it need witnesses of its own, and who will they be? Where is the signer’s ID?
- Ask the facility about visiting hours, where you can meet, and whether its staff may act as witnesses. Do not assume they may.
- Choose the time with care. Oregon’s guide: “Medications can alter the customer’s reasoning abilities.” Ask when the signer is usually most alert, and book then.
- Say the whole price before you drive, and what you charge if, at the bedside, the signing cannot go ahead.
Identification at the bedside
The rules are your state’s, as at any signing, and checking identification has each rule set’s own. Ask about three things before the day: an ID left at home, which someone can bring; one that has expired, which your state may or may not still accept; and none at all, where a credible witness may do if your state lists one.
Awareness and willingness
Oregon’s guide: “Special care must be taken when notarizing for the elderly or those in a medical care setting.” Talk with the signer, not about them. The same guide: “Prior to notarizing, ask the customer some questions about the document to be sure that they understand what they are signing and seem competent in their responses.” What is this document? What will it do? Do you want to sign it? — in the signer’s own words, not a yes to a question you have answered for them.
Willingness is the other half. Idaho’s handbook, where pressure may be in the room: “the notary can ask any others in the room to leave and then engage the signer in conversation about the transaction.” It draws a line worth keeping, too: “There is a difference between a person being unwilling or pressured to sign a document and being unhappy about the circumstances that have made it necessary for him or her to sign that document.”
Idaho’s law lets a notary there refuse “if the notary public is not satisfied that” the signer “is competent or has the capacity to execute the record”, or that their “signature is knowingly and voluntarily made.” — and for any other reason no other law forbids: “A notary public may refuse to perform a notarial act unless refusal is prohibited by law other than this chapter.” Read what your own state’s law says of it.
The staff, and the family
Staff can tell you when the signer is most alert, and some offices suggest asking more of them: Oregon’s guide, as above, and Idaho’s handbook — “When in doubt, the notary can get an opinion from an attorney or medical professional familiar with the signer.” In Colorado’s handbook the decision stays the notary’s: “the notary’s decision governs as to whether a client is adequately identified and sufficiently competent and willing to make an acknowledgment.” It says, too, what a notary is not there to be: “A notary is not a doctor, advisor, law enforcement officer, etc.”
The relative who arranged the signing may be the one the document helps. Ask them to step out while you talk with the signer, and come back in for the signing if the signer wants them there.
When the signer cannot sign
Some states provide for a signer who cannot write their name, each in its own way, so read your own state’s before the visit and bring the witnesses it asks for. California’s handbook, for a signature by mark: “The signer’s mark must be witnessed by two persons who must subscribe their own names as witnesses on the document.” Florida’s statute goes further: there a notary “may sign the name of a person whose signature is to be notarized when that person is physically unable to sign or make a signature mark on a document”, at that person’s direction, when “The document signing is witnessed by two disinterested persons” and the notary notes it as the statute says.
When to stop
- The signer cannot tell you, in their own words, what the document is or what it does.
- Someone else answers for them, or will not leave the room when you ask.
- They say they do not want to sign, or ask you to come back another day.
- They are too drowsy or confused to follow what is happening.
- You are not satisfied of who they are.
Idaho’s handbook: “If there is a question about the signer’s competency or willingness, the notary may refuse to perform the notarization or suggest that it should be done at a later time as circumstances warrant.” Oregon’s guide: “When in doubt, don’t notarize, noting the refusal in the notarial journal, and advise the customer to seek legal advice.” And where it looks like more than doubt, Colorado’s handbook: “if a notary suspects potential fraud or abuse, especially elder abuse or elder financial exploitation, the notary should report the abuse to local law enforcement.”
How Hand & Seal helps
The job keeps what the visit needs — the room, the unit, who to ask for at the desk — in its Prep & access notes. The journal form follows your state’s rule set on identification, and a refusal is a line of its own, with what you saw and no fee. See how it works.
This guide quotes the state offices and statutes named under Sources; your own state’s law decides, and its commissioning office has the last word. It is not legal advice.