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Commission 135560858State of TexasCommission ends 07/29/2030

Double E'sNotary Services

I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY LICENSED TO PRACTICE LAW IN TEXAS AND MAY NOT GIVE LEGAL ADVICE OR ACCEPT FEES FOR LEGAL ADVICE.

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A credible witness is not a signature witness

Notaries use the word witness for two different people. They are not the same job, and mixing them up is how a journal entry goes wrong.

A credible witness identifies the signer. I use one only when I do not personally know the signer and the signer has no satisfactory identification. Satisfactory identification is a current identification card or passport issued by the United States or a state, with a photograph and a signature. An expired card is not that. The credible witness has to personally know the signer, and has to take an oath or an affirmation that the signer is who the document says. The witness also has to be personally known to me, or has to show me that same kind of current identification. One witness is the method in 1 Texas Administrative Code § 87.40. I record that the signer was introduced, and I record the witness's name and mailing address, as Government Code § 406.014 requires. I do not record an identification number for either of them. Section 406.014 and 1 Texas Administrative Code § 87.50 prohibit that.

A signature witness is the other person. The document has lines for witnesses. A will, a power of attorney, or another paper may ask someone to watch the signing and sign their own name. That person is a witness to the document. They are not there to prove the signer's identity to me. I still identify the signer in one of the three ways: I know them, they show a current government photo ID, or a credible witness swears to who they are.

I do not bring either person to the appointment. The signer, or the office that prepared the document, has to arrange a signature witness if the page has those lines. A credible witness is the signer's arrangement as well. I do not keep a spare person in the car. If the required person is missing, I do not perform the act, and there is no fee.

I do not tell a signer that the document needs a witness, or how many it needs. That is legal advice. I also do not add witness lines that are not already on the page. The certificate that is printed is the act I perform. I do not swap it because someone asks me to just stamp the page.

This note is the distinction I use. It is not legal advice. The Secretary of State's rules and Chapter 406 control if I have flattened a line.