Time Saving Tip for Notaries

by   Victoria Ring---Bio

I had an interesting experience today.  A lady from a writer's group I belonged to asked me to be a Trustee for her Trust. I agreed and today we met to sign the paperwork.  However, before coming to the signing the lady had removed all the signature pages from the documents and placed them on top of each stack.  She thought by doing this that it would help save time during the notarization.

Unfortunately, the opposite was true.  Many of the signature pages were part of a multi-page document.  Separating any page from a multi-page document should never be attempted.  Not only is it very difficult to match the signature page back up with the rest of the document it is attached to, but no document should ever be signed without the rest of the pages attached.  Why? Because the person signing the document needs to be aware of exactly what they are signing.  If they are only presented with the signature page to sign, but Page 1, 2 and 3 are missing -- they will have no idea what they are signing -- which becomes a fraudulent notarization. In fact, in many states the signer is required to hand initial all pages within a multi-page document before signing it on the signature line.  This is done to ensure that the signer agrees to all the statements in the entire document -- not just the information appearing on the signature page.

Every notary has their own method of doing things. However, it is imperative to NEVER separate the pages of a multi-page document. If you are having trouble keeping the multi-page documents manageable, simply use a paper clip to secure the pages together during the period of time you are working with them, but never separate them.