FAQ / What is a notarial certificate?

Acknowledgment:
The acknowledgment is perhaps the most widely performed notarial act, so this is the certificate you're likely to come across most often. Its main purpose is to ensure positive identification of the signer — to verify that the person named in the document is, in fact, the person who signed it. An acknowledgment provides assurance that a signer is not an impostor trying to benefit in some way from a falsified document.

When executing an acknowledgment, the Notary carefully identifies the document signer, who acknowledges having freely signed the document. Acknowledgment of a signature before a Notary is a critical step leading to a document's acceptance by a county recorder. Real estate deeds, for example, and many other papers relating to ownership of valuable property must have their signatures acknowledged before the documents can be placed in the public record.

So, to simplify: An acknowledgment certificate is used when the signer proves to you that he or she is in fact the willing person who signed the document and who intends to abide by its terms.

Jurat: I Swear (or Affirm) that It's True

The main purpose of a jurat is to compel a document signer to be truthful. The Notary's function in executing a jurat is to appeal to the signer's conscience and to initiate a process that could result in a criminal conviction for perjury if the signer is found to be lying under oath. If a certificate includes the wording "subscribed and sworn," this usually indicates that some form of jurat is required.

In executing a jurat, the Notary must watch the person sign the document, then have the signer make either a solemn, oral promise of truthfulness or loyalty to a Supreme Being (called an oath) or a promise on one's own personal honor (called an affirmation). The signer may choose which one he or she is most comfortable with, and both an oath and affirmation have the same legal effect.

Jurats are common with documents that are used as evidence in court proceedings, such as depositions and affidavits. Oaths and affirmations may also be executed without reference to a document. An example would be the oath of office given to a public official. In this case, the oath or affirmation is a notarial act in its own right. Notaries administer oaths and affirmations for jurats in connection with documents. Increasingly, state laws are requiring the Notary to identify each document signer for a jurat.



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