There's a lot of talk about what you can copy certify as a notary public.
And there’s a little more to this than meets the eye. Not all states authorize notaries to copy certify or they limit what you can copy certify. Most state handbooks tell you exactly what you can or cannot copy certify.
So, everyone please check your handbooks FIRST. Those who have state handbook have been linked here for you: State Handbooks & Reference Manuals
Copy Certification is verifying that a copy is a true and accurate reproduction of the original document. Some states require that the Notary make the copy. Other states simply state that the notary is to inspect or compare the copy to the original for accuracy.
California limits you to copy certifying your journal entries and original powers of attorney only.
Hawaii notaries can only copy certify their own journal records.
Maine has the distinction of restricting notaries to only providing copy certification services for private records.
New York, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee do not allow you to copy certify any document. (not a complete list) New York doesn't accept a copy certification of any kind unless it's from a government office, like a certified copy of a birth certificate from the Vital Statistics Bureau. That is an important distinction.
Some common state-defined limitations include; Vital records, public records, publicly recorded documents, or anything that's recorded in county records. So let’s figure out what those document are.
What is a vital record? Think of this in terms of our government holding a record of important life events. If they collect data on this event and hold it in their authority, then it is considered a Vital Record. This includes, birth certificates, marriage licenses, civil Unions, domestic partnerships, separation agreements, divorce decrees, and death certificates. Only the government that issued the record can guarantee its authenticity.
What are Public Records? A Public record refers to any document with information that has been recorded or filed by a public agency. So that COULD be any Vital Record but can defined further as Trial Transcripts, Depositions, Bankruptcy, Civil or Criminal Judgements, (almost any kind of court record), Corporate Minutes, Electoral rolls, Records of accounting for Banks, Conveyance Deed, Deeds of Trust or Mortgage, Motor Vehicle Records, Police reports. This is not a complete list, but you get the idea.
What are Publicly Recorded Documents? That would include everything that was just noted in the above paragraph. But it goes further than that because in some counties, we can request just about anything to be recorded at our County Recorder’s Office. Last Wills, Powers of Attorney, Assignment of Corporate Stock Ownership, and other miscellaneous documents. So, if you have this specific restriction in your handbook and the original document presented to you has a County Recorder’s stamp in the upper right-hand corner, then you cannot copy certify this document…No matter what type of document it is.
Some states allow copy certification by document custodian. This is a legal process where the original document holder signs a statement that the copy is identical to the original and that statement is then notarized. So really, it's not certifying a copy of the original by the notary, it’s notarizing a statement by the document custodian. See the difference? The document custodian is verifying the authenticity of the document and not the notary.
What is a Tangible Copy Certification? Tangible means information that is contained in electronic or other tangible forms and capable of being ‘papered out’. This is for RON notaries who have completed an online notarization and might print out the document, signature page and notarization page and certify it to be a True and Unaltered copy of the original electronic document. RULONA provides that every state adopts the provision to allow RON notaries to copy certify their electronic notarizations.
So, there you have it. Get out those state notary reference manuals and look up what is authorized for you to copy certify in your state. Commit that information to memory because you never know when you will get the request to certify a copy of something.
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