How Important is a Date to a Notary Public?

Part of your Notarial functions is to check the date on the document being notarized; date your Notarial certificate and keep a sequential** journal of Notarial Acts (which involves a dated journal entry).

Let's chat about the date. When we, as the Notary Public receive a document, we scan the document to see if it is complete, ensuring no blanks and no pages are missing. It is also your notarial responsibility to check the date of the document.

This date is going to determine whether you, the Notary Public, can notarize the document being presented.

We also look at the date on the document. As long as your document is dated on the same day as the notarial act that you will be performing or is dated on an earlier date, it is ok to notarize the document.

However, if the document is dated on a future date, the person presenting that document needs to wait until that date or later to have the document notarized.

If the document has a date that is in the future, the document is not yet in effect and cannot be notarized. A properly dated document is a requirement of a lawful notarial act.

You will also have to date the notarial certificate that is attached to the document. The date on which the notarial act was performed is the third piece of information entered on the notarial certificate (after the State and Venue). Once the notarial certificate is completed, the Notary Public is going to certify the notarial act by completing the sequential notarial journal.

The first piece of information entered into the notarial journal is the date. This is the date on which the notarial act occurred. This is an extremely important entry in your journal. It is also good practice to enter the date that is on the document and how many pages the document was. These are all important items to have in your notary journal because if you were ever to be called into court you would need your sequential journal of notarial acts to prove the time and date that the person asking for the notarization was present before you, the Notary Public, and that you notarized the document on that specific date and time.

In summing this up, the date is a highly important part of the notarial act. When performing your notarial duties, you should be aware of both the date on the document and the date that the notarial act is taking place. NEVER notarize a document that is dated after the date you are performing the notarization. The date on the document and the date that the notarial act is taking place is the date that goes on your notarial certificate and in your notarial journal.

If the certificate is not filled out because you did not put in the date correctly or if you back-dated a notary certificate or forgot to insert a date in your notary journal, you as a Notary Public are held libel, could be charged fines and run the risk of your commission being suspended or revoked.

**Meaning of sequential: in sequence: happening in chronological order