Resources for finding your state regulations
As Notaries, the more we educate ourselves the more legitimate questions we have. And consequently the line of the law blurs just a bit. To get information you will have to dig and cross check. You would think that all our regulations would be tied-up in one nice neat little package. But that’s not always the case.
We have Notarial regulations – Real-Estate regulations – Probate regulations -Financial Institution regulations. All of those regulations can potentially effect our duties.
Start with;
Your state handbook – Make sure you have the most current version and Keep it digital so that you can use the ‘ctrl +F’ option to search key words. Keep looking for different key words that might relate to your search.
Ex: Foreign Language Documents Search; Foreign – Language – English – Communicate - Read or write – translate
When you find what you are looking for, see if there is an actual regulation number somewhere in the text. That number often can be plugged into a Google search page. Read the law. Sometimes our regulations end with “subject to the Administration Code set forth by the Secretary of State”. That could actually change the way the law is administrated or carried out.
Make a call to your Secretary of state or your licensing agency – sometimes you have to make a couple of calls to see if you get the same answer. Make certain they understand your question. Using words like ‘Hybrid Certificate’ will not mean anything to most of our offices because they are not a creation of the notary industry – but instead a creation of the real-estate and lender industry. Limit those questions to Notary stuff. Don’t ask them Signing Agent questions like is it required that I print loan documents on mixed size pages? Don’t ask them Business owner or Tax accountant questions like can I claim mileage on my tax returns.
If you get an answer, don’t stop there– ask for the corresponding regulation so that you can look at it for yourself and stash that away as your ‘get out of jail free’ card.
If it is opinion, then ask for that opinion to be sent to you via email so that you can have it as a future reference. Sometimes we get lucky and they will do this for us.
Tap a Colleague – Mentor – Instructor; Good source for immediate information, but check into it further for yourself.
Facebook University – with extreme caution
Google – don’t stop when you get the answer you want – keep looking as there could be mis-information out there.
Don’t ask an attorney unless they specialize in Notarial Law.
DO USE GOOGLE to Find and Bookmark your Legislature page; ex; AzLeg.gov Your legislation page will have the most comprehensive compilation of all sectors of law for your state.
Public Law Libraries are a good resource; Ex; California SacLaw.org
www.Findlaw.com; Bookmark that page after you set it for your state as an easy reference.
www.AzRE.gov; Arizona Real estate law
www.AzCourts.gov; Probate law
www.nolo.com – Legal encyclopedia
www.difi.az.gov – Banking and Financial law - Arizona
www.DFPI.ca.gov - Dept of Financial Protection and Innovation - California