Can Notaries Refuse Service

Notaries can indeed refuse service. However, a notary should NOT refuse service to perform a lawful notarial act. What if the document violates your personal beliefs? Still, you should not refuse service. Look, you are not endorsing the contents of the document. You are verifying the identity of the signer. Thus, you are simply a third party witness. So, let’s assume you are against same-sex marriages. You are presented with a document where the content relates to this issue. You should not refuse service. The contents of the document are not within your purview. It might be a good time to read our article about Dangerous Questions Presented to a Notary in New York. Again, you are only a third-party witness who verifies the identity of the signer. There are only a handful of instances where notaries can refuse service because of the document’s contents. If a client needs to authenticate a foreign birth certificate, for example, you may need to refer them to an Apostille.

You may wish to check-out some of our other articles from our blog posts. We discuss several topics relating to notarial service.

When to Refuse Service

There are numerous situations where a notary should refuse service. For instance

• The signer does not understand the contents of the document, or appears confused.
• You cannot properly identify the signer
• The signer is not physically present
• You believer that the signer is not signing of their own free will. Perhaps they are coerced.
• The document contains black spaces
• The signer is your family member
• The document does not contain a notarial certificate, and the signer cannot instruct the Notary which type of notarial certificate is required
• The client wants a certified copy of a public record

As a notary you must remember that you are a public official. As such, your personal feelings cannot come into play. So, you must fulfil your obligation as a public official unless any of the items outlined above become a factor. That National Notary Association has a more in-depth article on this subject.

If you want to become a Notary Public in New York, you can enroll in our NY Notary Exam training.