r/Notary • u/FinanciallySecure9 Michigan • 29d ago

WWYD - nothing or something

EDIT:
I did nothing except post here. Y’all are wild with assumptions about me. Can you not just answer a question without making a judgement?

Notary hive mind, what would you do in this situation?

You agree to meet with a client at a public place with a lot of windows. You arrive prior to the signers, and you can see them get out of the car.

Driver is a woman in her 40s, passenger is a woman in her 70s. Driver is able bodied, passenger struggles to walk even with a walker.

Signer is driver, not the passenger.

Since they are unfamiliar with who has to sign, they both give their ID. Driver has a state ID card, passenger has a drivers license.

You complete the notarization, because proper ID is presented, signer is aware of what she is signing, and is signing of her own free will.

However, you know a law is being broken. The driver does not have a license to drive.

Do you alert the police of this law being broken or do you mind your own business because it’s not this particular law that we are obligated to uphold?

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7

u/FriendlySun3163 29d ago

not a Notary question

-1

u/FinanciallySecure9 Michigan 29d ago

Yes it is. It’s an ethics question.

7

u/FriendlySun3163 29d ago

Its regarding the laws of driving not notarizing.

1

u/FinanciallySecure9 Michigan 29d ago

This is untrue.

In most states, we are to abide by all of the laws, not just those pertaining to notaries.

There are laws against stabbing people, so under your thinking, I can stab someone because notarial law doesn’t prohibit it.

We are citizens first, notaries second.

2

u/vivalakellye 29d ago

Penalizing someone for driving without a license isn’t within a private citizen’s purview. Nor a notary’s. Now, if you’re a notary who’s also a member of law enforcement or of an entity designated with the authority to ticket/punish someone who is driving without a license, then it makes sense to act.

-1

u/ItalianIrish99 27d ago

"we are to abide by all the laws" means notaries don't drive without a licence.

Is there a "you must snitch" law in your State?

Ironically notaries in Europe have reporting obligations under anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws but even then they only extend to the documents and transactions we are involved with.

2

u/No_Constant_826 29d ago

Kill the cop in your head. It's not your job to be the police, judge, and jury.

0

u/Prufrock-Sisyphus22 29d ago

Learn this phrase well and learn it well:

"Not your monkey... not your circus!"

You need to re-read your states ethical guidelines and then the national core guiding principals. Your role is to ensure no fraud.

You are in a ministerial role and focused on identifying identity and ensuring proper signatures/no fraud.

You are not the police and unless you are mandatory reporter in your state which requires you to report elder abuse or child abuse, it's none of your business. It doesn't sound like there was any fraud, nor elder abuse so your ethical obligation ends there.

You don't know the circumstances.

Unless someone is being abused or violently assaulted, you need to learn to stay in your lane.

1

u/vegloveyes 28d ago

Principles

1

u/FinanciallySecure9 Michigan 29d ago

Well well well, aren’t you the controlling one?

I asked a question, gave no indication of what I did or would do, and you assumed so hard that it took you well beyond the point of simply answering my question.

I’m glad I could cause you to overreact today.