✓ TradeExamPro

TradeExamPro › Real Estate & Property › Notary public

Notarial acts practice questions

27 questions from the notary public practice test.

Notarial acts practice test

10 questions, graded as you go, with the reason for every answer. No sign-up.

What this covers

Sample questions

A signer brings in a deed she signed at home yesterday and asks for an acknowledgment. How should the notary proceed?

  1. Refuse, because every notarized signature must be made in front of the notary
  2. Identify her and have her acknowledge that the signature is hers
  3. Have her swear that the statements in the deed are true
  4. Notarize it only if a witness saw her sign it yesterday
Show the answer

B. Identify her and have her acknowledge that the signature is hers

For an acknowledgment the signature may be made before the signer comes to the notary. What matters is that the signer appears in person, is identified, and acknowledges the signature as her own. Signing in the notary's presence is required for signature witnessings and is the traditional rule for jurats, but not for acknowledgments.

Reference: RULONA Sections 2 and 5(a)

A man hands the notary an affidavit he signed in his car before coming in and asks for a jurat. Under the traditional jurat rule, what should the notary do?

  1. Complete the jurat, since he admits the signature on it is his
  2. Switch the paperwork to an acknowledgment certificate without telling him about it
  3. Have him swear to it and leave the old signature as it is
  4. Have him sign the affidavit again in the notary's presence, then give the oath
Show the answer

D. Have him sign the affidavit again in the notary's presence, then give the oath

A jurat certifies that the record was subscribed (signed) and sworn to before the notary, so a document signed elsewhere is signed again in the notary's presence and the oath is then administered. Simply accepting his word that the signature is his is how an acknowledgment works, and the notary may not swap the type of act on his own.

Reference: General notarial practice: jurats (subscribed and sworn before the notary)

How does witnessing or attesting a signature differ from taking an acknowledgment?

  1. The notary must watch the individual sign the record
  2. The signer must swear that the record is truthful
  3. The signer does not have to be identified by the notary
  4. The notary must read and approve the record first
Show the answer

A. The notary must watch the individual sign the record

In a signature witnessing the notary certifies that the identified individual signed in the notary's presence. An acknowledgment may cover a signature made earlier. Neither act involves an oath about truthfulness, and identification is required for both.

Reference: RULONA Sections 2 and 5(c)

Other topics