If your documents needs to be notarized in Hawaii you should be aware of Hawaii’s new requirements.
The new Hawaii notary rules became effective on May 5, 2008 and the two new changes that you should be aware of are the following: Every acknowledgment is required to be evidenced by a notary certification signed and dated by the notary.
The notary certification must include the following information:
- The printed name of the notary;
- The official stamp or seal of the notary, which includes the commission number of the notary;
- The identification of the jurisdiction in which the notarial act is performed;
- The identification or description of the document being notarized which shall be in close proximity to the acknowledgment; and
- The number of pages and date of such document
The aforementioned information can be included within the acknowledgment itself (for example, one form of a particular type of notarization could be: “This 5-page [identification or description of notarized document], dated _______, was subscribed and sworn to before me this ____ day of ______, 20__, in the First Circuit of the State of Hawaii, by John H. Doe.”).
However, there can be more than one acceptable form or format for the notary certification, as long as the information required is provided.
The notary’s seal or stamp is now required to have the notary’s commission number on it. Your Hawaii notary should be aware of these new rules, but you should be as well because if your notary fails to follow the new rules your documents may not be validly notarized and you may encounter bigger and more costly problems because of your notary’s mistake.
