I just spent about half an hour on the phone with the son (“Mr. Smith Jr.”) of Mr. Smith Sr. who is in Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California. A few days ago, a notary notarized a power of attorney with Mr. Smith Sr.. When Mr. Smith Jr. brought it to the bank, the bank wouldn’t accept it since it was notarized incorrectly. The wrong notary acknowledgement was used and the marks signed by Mr. Smith Sr. weren’t written with correct representation. What a terrible surprise for the Smiths.

Yesterday, I notarized a document for Mr. Smith Sr.. He signed by a mark and we had two witnesses present.

Today in the early evening, Mr. Smith Jr. called me asking for help. He noticed on the power of attorney that the notary certificate was different than what I used. He also noticed that the mark his father made on the power of attorney was handled differently than the way it was handled on the document I notarized. He called me again for help, when they arrived at the other notary’s office.

Having an incorrectly notarized power of attorney was hugely unfortunate for the Smith family, as Mr. Smith Sr. recently fell which caused paralysis from his neck down. This event by itself is enormously overwhelming for the Smiths.

Do you know of a competent notary public you can call to be sure you avoid such a situation? If not, do you know where to search for one?

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This evening I received a call from the son of a veteran who is scheduled to have surgery tomorrow at 6AM at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto, California. “Mr. Lee” wanted his durable power of attorney notarized before he went in for surgery and the window of opportunity was closing. They are from Monterey County and are unfamiliar with Palo Alto. They arrived in Palo Alto in the late afternoon and drove to a couple of notary public offices. Unfortunately, the first one went out of business and the second one did not a notary public onsite. Mr. Lee’s son, “Randall” called me frantic at just before 7PM.

He was glad to have found a traveling notary public that could bring notary services to them at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto. Then, he was wondering how he was going to find an ATM to get cash to pay for the notary services. I told him that I accept debit and credit cards. Since he had his credit card, he didn’t have to worry about driving around an unfamiliar city to find an ATM. He sighed with relief.

I arrived within a half an hour to notarize the power of attorney for Mr. Lee. Both he and Randall were at ease knowing it was notarized. Now, they could focus on the surgery and recovery.

If you find yourself in a pinch for a traveling notary, do you have a knowledgeable, professional one you can call?

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I thought I would share about my mobile notary services to hospitals. This week, I provided mobile notary service to a patient and her family at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, Califorina. Other recent notary appointments have been at Lucille Packard’s Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara and Stanford Hospital in Stanford, California. I provide notary service to the other hospitals in the counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara, California too.

Common documents that require notarization by hospital patients are power of attorneys and advanced health care directives. Once in a while the person has a refinance loan package or a seller signing package. Another common request is when they have been involved in a car or motorcycle accident and their car or motorcycle is impounded. Since they are in the hospital and the sole owner of the vehicle or bike, they need a notarized letter authorizing a family member or friend to pick up their car or bike from the impound yard.

As a notary, I have to gauge the competence and willingness of the signer as well as identify them. If they are taking pain killers or other medications causing grogginess, signing is better later in the medication cycle when they are more alert. If they aren’t competent, I have to decline the notarization. If they do not have their current photo ID (driver’s license, state ID card or passport), two credible witnesses are needed who do have their current photo ID’s and testify to the signers identification.

Hospital stays can be stressful for the patient and their family and friends. I recognize this and work accordingly with them to make the notarizations as efficient and pain free as possible. An example, today when I just arrived, the physical therapists came in and wanted to work with the patient (“Mrs. Jones”). We asked them to return in a a few minutes. I quickly reviewed the patient’s current photo ID to confirm her ID and signature. I reviewed the power of attorney requiring notarization. I asked about her hand strength to see if a felt tip pen would work better for Mrs. Jones than the ball point pen. While one of her sons worked with her to practice signing her signature. I worked with her other son to complete a couple of items on the power of attorney. Next, I asked her a couple of questions about the power of attorney that she needed to answer and asked her a couple of questions to confirm she understood what she was signing. I had her sign the document and my notary journal and then give her thumb print in my journal. Next, her son signed his portion of the document and he signed the journal and gave his thumb print in it too.

The physical therapists returned to the room and started working with Mrs. Jones while I completed notarizing the document and completing the journal. I wrote a receipt. They paid me. I was on my way and they had their much needed notarized power of attorney, so now her son can manage her finances while she is recovering in the hospital.

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Some people wonder how I can have clients who are out of state. “Sarah”, who is in New York, called me to notarize a couple of documents with her father, “Mr. Jones”. He is living at Palo Alto Commons, an assisted living place in Palo Alto, California. They needed trust documents notarized. She was a bit stressed on how to make this happen. Her father no longer drives, so he is unable to drive to a notary public’s office. I talked with her to better understand what she needed. She couriered the documents to me. I scheduled the notary appointment with her father. After the notarizations were complete, I couriered the documents back to Sarah.

I was glad to be of service to Sarah and Mr. Jones and making the transaction as smooth and stressless as possible for them.

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0 comments Saturday 09 May 2009 | Cathy | Notary Public/Loan Signing Agent Fun |