WHAT IS NOTARIZATION?
A Notary is an official of integrity appointed by state government, by the Secretary of State, to serve the public in non-contentious matters, usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers of attorney and foreign and international business. A notary performs a variety of official fraud-deterrent acts relating to the signing of important documents.
A simpler explanation is that the Notary is responsible for checking the identification of the Signer(s) and authenticating that he or she is who they say they are. A Notary does not authenticate the validity of the document, he or she authenticates you as the Signer(s).
When you require notarization, you must observe the following rules:
Identification
You must always provide a valid, photo ID. There are no exceptions to this rule.
1. For general notarization, you may provide a Driver’s License, a State Identification Card, Military Card or Government Identification.
2. A notary cannot accept a scan of identification from your phone, or a copy, it must be the original.
3. Penndot does not accept a Passport.
4. If you are using Remote Notarization, you must check with the Notary as to whether the platform he or she is using accepts a Passport.
Signing the Document(s)
Unless you are using Remote Notarization, you must sign the document(s) in front of the Notary.
Copy Certifications
In Pennsylvania, a Notary may use a Copy Certification to evidence that he or she saw the original document and that the copy is a true and unaltered copy. However, we are not allowed to use this method of notarization for a Marriage License, Birth Certificate or Death Certificate.