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Glossary of Notary Public, Mortgage, Signing Agent, and Loan Signing Terms.

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Common Terms 1   Common Terms 2

Journal of Notarial Acts

Function: noun

A Notarial journal prescribed by law in many states to record notarial acts. Some important features of the Notary journal are that the journal should be bound and sequential to deter adding additional entries after the fact as well as deterring the suspicion that the notary could have pretended to notarize a document in the past when they didn't. If a fraudulent notarization occurs, which generally could happen once or twice during a busy notary's commission, the first record to be sourced, is the notary's journal. If the journal does not have a record of the notarization, then the notarization can be proven to be false.

Another important feature of the notary journal is to have the ability to record thumbprints which are required in certain states for journal entries regarding property deeds, and even Powers of Attorney. The thumbprint is the most reliable way to identify an individual since it can not be forged.

The journal records the date, time, type of notarization, type of document, signers name, address, credible witness information if any, additional notes, notary fee, signature of the document signer, and a thumbprint.

Common notary acts recorded in a notary journal are acknowledgments, jurats, oaths, affirmations, and certified copies of powers of attorney.

Additionally, a good notary keeps good notes in their notary journal about anything unusual about the signing. Perhaps the place where the notarization took place had unusual characteristics, or the signers acted strangely. This information could be useful in court.  Busy Notaries might have to go to court once or twice in their career, and their notary journal is their main piece of evidence. Their notes can help them to remember what happened many years ago.  Also, keeping thumbprints might eliminate the necessity to go to court at all since they prove the identity of the signer.

 

Definition 1:
A bound and sequential book that records notarial transactions by order of date and time.

Definition 2:
A book or ledger that is used to record important information

Definition 3:
Any type of record book that can be used to record business information, experiences during mediation, dreams, personal thoughts, travel experiences, etc.

Definition 4:
An electronic journal is necessary for e-notarizations. Please consult the National Notary Association as they sell ENJOA, which is a type of digital journal.

Thesaurus / Related Terms
Jurat
Acknowlegment
Journal and Seal Information
Journal BLOG
Journal Entry
Notarial Act