HEARING AND HEARING AID CENTER

Acknowledgement

• An acknowledgment is to ensure that the signer of a document is who they claim to be and has voluntarily signed the document. Acknowledgments often are needed for documents concerning valuable assets, such as deeds, contracts, power of attorney, mortgages and deeds of trust. The signer must personally appear at the time of notarization to be positively identified and to declare — or "acknowledge" — that the signature on the document is their own and that they signed willingly.

Jurat

•  A jurat is for a signer to swear or affirm that the contents of a document are true. Depending on the jurisdiction, it also can be known as an affidavit or a verification on oath or affirmation. The signer must personally appear and sign the document. An oath or affirmation is administered and the signer speaks aloud his or her promise that the statements in the document are true. 

Oath/Affirmations

• An oath or affirmation orally, rather than as part of a jurat​, affidavit or other written document. An oath is a solemn pledge to a Supreme Being. An affirmation is a solemn pledge on the individual's personal honor. Documents involving an oath or affirmation must be signed in the notary's presence.

Copy Certification

• A copy certification confirms that a reproduction of an original document is a full, true, and accurate transcription or reproduction of the original. Documents requiring copy certification may include: diplomas, driver’s licenses, leases, contracts, vehicle titles, Social Security cards, medical records and bills of sale. The person in possession of an original document takes the original document to a Notary. The Notary typically will make a photocopy of the document and complete a certificate for the copy certification to confirm that the photocopy is a true, accurate and complete copy of the original.

• ​In Texas a Notary may NOT certify copies of government issued documents, only a governmental agency can do that, such as passports, birth, death or marriage certificates. Certified copies of these documents must be obtained from the agency that holds the originals.

• A Notary in Texas does have the authority to certify copies of original documents that are not recordable in the public records.

• Notaries in Texas are allowed to certify that a physical copy of a notarized electronic record (such as a printed copy of an electronic document) is a true and correct copy.  

Signature Witnessing

•  Witness an individual’s signing of an instrument (document or contract) that requires neither an acknowledgement nor an oath or affirmation.

Protests

• A Notary Public’s written statement that, upon presentment for payment or acceptance, a negotiable instrument was neither paid nor accepted. Protesting a bill or not for non-acceptance or nonpayment, register bill or note for non-acceptance or nonpayment

Deposition

•  Taking a deposition of a witness

Verifications