Notary Public Underwriters Blog
Can a Notary Change a Document’s Date?
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- Published: September 2, 2024
The quick answer is "No!" But there's more to explore about this frequently asked question.
Let's start with the basic scenario... a customer appears before a notary public to have their signature notarized. The notary either personally knows this individual, or must identify the individual through satisfactory evidence of identification. But until the moment that the customer presented their document to the notary, the notary was not involved with the document's content, or with creation of the document.
Notary's Authority
For purposes of notarizing, a notary has no authority to change any content in the body of a document. They may, however, make any changes necessary to the notarial certificate portion of the document.
Reviewing the Notarial Certificate
A notary scans every document's notarial certificate wording to assess important facts. Does the certificate wording reflect a notarial act the notary is authorized to perform? Does it substantially comply with the certificate wording specified in the notary's state laws or administrative rules? Is the notarial certificate fully contained on the same page of the document, and does it provide sufficient space for the notary's signature and official stamp/seal?
Another important fact the notary assesses is whether the notarial certificate contains any information that was prefilled, but doesn't correctly reflect the facts of the notarial act. Even though the notarial certificate is intended for the notary to complete, some document preparers add information to the certificate anyway, before the notarization has occurred. Typically, this happens when the document preparer is familiar with the named principal signer.
Confirming or Correcting the Date of Notarization
So, perhaps the document preparer inserted a date of notarization in the body of the notarial certificate, and it reflects the date that the notary actually performs the notarization. In that case, the notary needn't change the date of notarization, but we recommend that they indicate "OK," initial the prefilled date, and note this circumstance in their record book (journal) entry.
The officiating notary MUST, however, amend an incorrect date of notarization that is prefilled into a notarial certificate. The notary would line through the incorrect date, initial the change, and write-in the correct date. They should also note in this notarization's record book (journal) entry that they corrected a prefilled, incorrect date of notarization.
Under these circumstances, a notary public must remember that their authority to modify ANYTHING in a document is strictly limited to amending the notarial certificate wording.
Important Note
Florida notaries, remember that you cannot change ANYTHING--including notarial certificate language--in a document that has already been signed by ANYONE; see Florida Statutes Sec. 117.107(7)). But notaries in other states--particularly employee notaries who may have created a particular document requiring a notarized signature--can follow the guidelines above for amending incorrect information in a document's notarial certificate, even if the principal signer has already signed it.
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