I have been asked to notarize a copy of a passport. 

Question is, do I get a copy of the passport, have the client sign his own certification that the passport is his and then notarize an acknowledgment of his signature or can I just do a jurat of the copy of the passport?

Thanks for the help.

As a notary, you cannot tell them how to proceed or what kind of notarization they need. The most you can tell them is that by CA law, you can't certify a copy of the passport; you can only, for example, certify the signature of another individual's statement attesting to the copy.

How they go about doing that is up to them. Be very careful about telling them how to do something because that can be taken as legal advice.

Now, in general the answer to this is that the person who made the copy writes a letter and signs it. You notarize the signature on THAT letter. You don't even need to see passport, because you aren't concerned about the content. All you care about is notarizing a valid signature on a document.

But... again, while you may know the answer, you have to be careful in how you present it. If they are under the impression that you are telling them a notarized letter is sufficient, you could get in to trouble. What they need to do is go back to the entity requesting the notarization and ask THEM how to proceed. The entity may not accept a letter... and if that happens, there is a potential for problems if the signer comes back at you upset because you gave them the impression it would work. Does that make sense?

Hi Marian,

Is it okay to tell the client the following:

“State law does not allow me to certify the copy. A Copy Certification by Document Custodian certifies the reproduction is a true, correct and complete reproduction of a document in (your) possession or control. You will need to go back to the entity requesting the notarization and ask THEM how to proceed”.

Or is it best just to tell them “State law does not allow me to certify the copy and you will need to go back to the entity requesting the notarization and ask THEM how to proceed”.

I know we are not allowed to give advice, but on some of the forums, people have suggested under certain circumstances to explain what an Acknowledgment and Jurat are and then advised the client to go back to the entity and ask them how to proceed. Your thoughts?

The problem comes in even mentioning the copy certification thing. There is no such official form for this. There are many examples of it online and the requesting entity may accept it... but, and this is just my own personal thing, I do not suggest it or bring it up to anyone when in the course of them requesting a notarization. The reason is because they could perceive your mentioning it as giving them a decent alternative, which could be seen as UPL. Good arguments can be made against that, I know, but...it's really best to just avoid the concept altogether.

That said, I do carry a couple of versions of copy certifications with me that I provide *if* I am asked for them directly... and I will provide them on the condition that I am not responsible for it, and that the use of the forms may not be appropriate for their needs. It's just a matter of convenience - much like I carry certain forms from the county for requesting copies of birth certificates.

This example you gave:

"A Copy Certification by Document Custodian certifies the reproduction is a true, correct and complete reproduction of a document in (your) possession or control."

I would never say that. First, because of what I said above, but also because it's not entirely accurate. The form does not actually certify anything. It's just a statement from the person signing it that attests that the copy is of an original document. There is no special form necessary for this. A "Copy Certification" can be as simple as a handwritten note. If the entity accepts a signed statement to that effect, great... but we can, in no way, give them an impression that signing such a statement will be accepted.

I've seen a LOT of notaries who basically do this:

Signer: I need a copy of this notarized.

Notary: I can't do that, but if you fill out this form, I can notarize that.

That seems innocent enough, but it gives the impression that using the form would be acceptable to the requesting entity -- and that's where you could get in to trouble.

Remember, YOU are the notary with the commission and people to protect. You are under stricter rules than others, and you have to stay as far away from the lines as you can so as to never even give the hint of practicing law. There's a reason the notary exam asks you to remember things like fines and jail-time for offenses.