Nicole West

About Us:

Notary Services Available:

If you are a Real Estate Professional in need of a Public Notary on the North side of Clarksville give me a call and I will be glad to help you and your clients. Basic Notary Services available as a courtesy provided services are conducted in my office, (2631 Ft. Campbell Blvd.) during regular business hours, and do not interfer with my regular business operations. Walk ins are welcome but appointments are perferred.

DUTIES OF A NOTARY PUBLIC

For your own protection you as a duly appointed Notary Public should become familiar with the laws governing a Notary Public, and thoroughly familiar with paper you authenticate.

Before any step is taken, be sure the parties concerned thoroughly understand the contents of the documents they are acknowledging or executing. This should be understood to your satisfaction before you attest to their signature(s) which is always affixed in your presence.

NEVER be a party to a false affidavit. This clearly falls under the so-called felony amendment and is why we place so much emphasis upon this point. The responsibility lies solely upon the Notary Public. In certifying officially as true what he knows is false, he violates his duty as a state Official, commits a crime and makes himself liable for damages, fines and/or imprisonment.

Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon having the individual making the oath or acknowledgement in your presence, dating the document the date it is signed and affixing the seal and expiration date of your commission properly.

Be certain there are no blank spaces that can be filled in after you notarize a document. If the document requires two signatures, never attest to ONE, leaving blank for another signature to be affixed.

A widely ignored requirement imposed upon a Notary Public is that requiring every Notary Public to keep a fair register of all his official acts and/or payment of his legal fees and to give a certified copy therefrom when required.

IN NO INSTANCE CAN A NOTARY PUBLIC ACT IN THE CAPACITY OF AN ATTORNEY. HE HAS NO AUTHORITY TO COMPLETE LEGAL DOCUMENTS. HE ONLY CERTIFIES THAT THE PERSON WHO ACTUALLY DOES SIGN THE DOCUMENT SIGNS THE DOCUMENT IN HIS PRESENCE. AND THAT THE CONTENTS ARE KNOWN TO AND UNDERSTOOD BY THE PERSON WHOSE SIGNATURE HE IS AFFIRMING.

Knowledge of the extent to which a Notary Public may perform his duties, and the careful carrying out of the prescribed functions of the Notary Public is of utmost importance.

Areas of Expertise

Notary Public Commissions: A notary public is a public official whose powers and duties are defined by statute. It is a relatively simple matter to become a notary public, but the office has important responsibilities, limitations and liability potential which should be fully realized.

QUALIFICATIONS:
A notary must be at least 18 years of age and be a resident of, or maintain a principal place of business in, the county from which he/she is elected. Tenn. Code Ann. 8-16-101. A person with a principal place of business in a Tennessee County may be elected as notary even though that person's residence is in another state. Tenn. Code Ann. 8-16-101. United States citizenship is not a requirement of Tenn. Code Ann. 8-16-101.

NOTARY PUBLIC AT LARGE:
As of July 1, 2004, notary publics will no longer be identified as Notary Publics At Large but will be identified as Notary Publics for the State of Tennessee. Even though you would be elected as a Notary Public in Davidson County, your Notary certificate is good throughout the state.

BOND:
After election by the county legislative body and before commencing duties or exercising powers, a notary must post bond by a surety company authorized to do business as a surety in Tennessee, in the amount of $10,000. The bond is payable to the state and conditioned on the faithful performance of the duties of a notary public. The bond must be filed in the office of the county clerk in the county of election. Tenn. Code Ann. 8-16-104. The county clerk may charge $1.50 for taking and recording the bond. Tenn. Code Ann. 8-21-701.

OATH:
The notary must also take and subscribe to an oath before the county clerk or a deputy county clerk to support the constitutions of the State of Tennessee and the United States, and that the notary will, without favor or partiality, honestly, faithfully and diligently discharge the duties of a notary public. Tenn. Code Ann. 8-16-105.
After election by the county legislative body, before commencing duties or exercising powers, and after posting and filing your notary/surety bond, you must take and sign your oath in our office at 523 Mainstream Drive, Suite B, Nashville, TN.

OFFICIAL SEAL:
As of July 1, 2004, a notary must purchase an official rubber stamp seal that will imprint the seal of office in "..any color other than black or yellow, provided the color used to imprint the seal shall be clearly legible and appear as black when photocopied on a non-color copier." However, if the notary public was approved for their term of office prior to this date, they may continue to use their current notary seal until their term of office expires. Tenn. Code Ann. 8-16-206(a).

Legal Disclaimer

"I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY LICENSED TO PRACTICE LAW IN THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, AND I MAY NOT GIVE LEGAL ADVICE OR ACCEPT FEES FOR LEGAL ADVICE."

Definition: Public Notary (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

A notary public is an officer who can administer oaths and statutory declarations, witness and authenticate documents and perform certain other acts depending on the jurisdiction. With the exception of Louisiana, whose private law is based on civil law rather than common law, a notary public in the United States of America has powers that are far more limited than the role of a civil law notary in the rest of the world. There are far more notaries in the United States than in other countries (4.5 million^[1] , compared with 900 in England and Wales). For the purposes of authentication, most countries require commercial or personal documents which originate from or are signed in another country to be notarized before they can be used or officially recorded or before they can have any legal effect. This includes the translation of such documents done by an expert translator approved by a governmental entity.

In some countries and states, notaries are required to undergo specific training in the performance of their duties. Many must also first serve as an apprentice before being commissioned or licensed to practice their profession. In many countries even licensed lawyers (such as barristers or solicitors) must go through additional specialized notarial training and apprenticeship before being allowed to practice as a notary. A notary public commissioned in the United States of America is not an attorney-at-law unless also admitted to the bar. (Although some countries consider the profession of a civil law notary, itself, to be the practice of law. Many even have institutes of higher education issuing degrees in the field. In the United Kingdom, for example, a notary public can perform any task a solicitor or other lawyer can perform, as part of their notary public duties,^{[citation needed]} with the sole exception of representing others before the courts, unless they are also members of the bar or admitted as a solicitor.)

History:

Notaries Public (also called "notaries," "notarial officers," or "public notaries") hold an office which can trace its origins back to ancient Rome, when they were called scribae, tabellius or notarius. They are easily the oldest continuing branch of the legal profession worldwide.

The history of Notaries is set out in detail in Chapter 1 of Brooke's Notary (12th edition):

The office of a public notary is a public office. It has a long and distinguished history. The office has its origin in the civil institutions of ancient Rome. Public officials, called scribae, that is to say, scribes, rose in rank from being mere copiers and transcribers to a learned profession prominent in private and public affairs. Some were permanent officials attached to the Senate and courts of law whose duties were to record public proceedings, transcribe state papers, supply magistrates with legal forms, and register the decrees and judgments of magistrates.

In the last century of the Republic, probably in the time of Cicero, a new form of shorthand was invented and certain arbitrary marks and signs, called notae, were substituted for words in common use. A writer who adopted the new method was called a notarius. Originally, a notary was one who took down statements in shorthand and wrote them out in the form of memoranda or minutes. Later, the title notarius was applied almost exclusively to registrars attached to high government officials, including provincial governors and secretaries to the Emperor.

Notwithstanding the collapse of the Western Empire in the 5th century AD, the notary remained a figure of some importance in many parts of continental Europe throughout the Dark Ages. When the civil law experienced its renaissance in mediæval Italy from the 12th century onwards, the notary was established as a central institution of that law, a position which still obtains in countries whose legal systems are derived from the civil law.

The separate development of the common law in England, free from most of the influences of Roman law, meant that notaries were not introduced into England until later in the 13th and 14th centuries. At first, notaries in England were appointed by the Papal Legate. In 1279 the Archbishop of Canterbury was authorized by the Pope to appoint notaries. Not surprisingly, in those early days, many of the notaries were members of the clergy. In the course of time, members of the clergy ceased to take part in secular business and laymen, especially in towns and trading centres, began to assume the official character and functions of a modern notary.

The Reformation produced no material change in the position and functions of notaries in England. However, in 1533 the enactment of "the Act Concerning Peter's Pence and Dispensations" (The Ecclesiastical Licenses Act, 1533) terminated the power of the Pope to appoint notaries and vested that power in the King who then devolved it to the Archbishop of Canterbury who in turn devolved it to the Master of the Faculties.

Traditionally, notaries recorded matters of judicial importance as well as private transactions or events where an officially authenticated record or a document drawn up with professional skill or knowledge was required.

[edit] Common law jurisdictions

The duties and functions of notaries public are described in Brooke's Notary on page 19 in these terms:

Generally speaking, a notary public [...] may be described as an officer of the law [...] whose public office and duty it is to draw, attest or certify under his official seal deeds and other documents, including wills or other testamentary documents, conveyances of real and personal property and powers of attorney; to authenticate such documents under his signature and official seal in such a manner as to render them acceptable, as proof of the matters attested by him, to the judicial or other public authorities in the country where they are to be used, whether by means of issuing a notarial certificate as to the due execution of such documents or by drawing them in the form of public instruments; to keep a protocol containing originals of all instruments which he makes in the public form and to issue authentic copies of such instruments; to administer oaths and declarations for use in proceedings [...] to note or certify transactions relating to negotiable instruments, and to draw up protests or other formal papers relating to occurrences on the voyages of ships and their navigation as well as the carriage of cargo in ships." [Footnotes omitted.]

A notary, in almost all common law jurisdictions, is a qualified, experienced practitioner trained in the drafting and execution of legal documents.^{[citation needed]} (A notable exception being 48 of the 50 U.S. States and some parts of Canada.) Traditionally, notaries recorded matters of judicial importance as well as private transactions or events where an officially authenticated record or a document drawn up with professional skill or knowledge was required. Specifically, the functions of notaries include the preparation of certain types of documents (including international contracts, deeds, wills and powers of attorney) and certification of their due execution, administering of oaths, witnessing affidavits and statutory declarations, certification of copy documents, noting and protesting of bills of exchange and the preparation of ships' protests.

Documents certified by notaries are sealed with the notary's seal or stamp and are recorded by the notary in a register (also called a "protocol") maintained and permanently kept by him or her. These are known as "notarial acts". In countries subscribing to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalization for Foreign Public Documents only one further act of certification is required, known as an apostille, and is issued by a government department (usually the Foreign Affairs Department or similar). For other countries an "authentication" or "legalization" must be issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the country from which the document is being sent or the Embassy, Consulate-General or High Commission of the country to which it is being sent.