What has changed in the rules and regulations for creating Acknowledgements and Jurats for Remote Online Notarizations?
Notary's and Attorneys in Arizona were pleased when Governor Ducey enacted the emergency Executive Order 2020-26 allowing for the creation of Remote Online Notarizations (RON) ahead of the July 1, 2020 deadline. The Secretary of State's Business Services Office really came through for existing notaries by making a process available to upgrade to a Remote Online Notary Commission. AZ Roving Notary was able to have our notaries upgrade their commissions. We were up and running within 20 days of the declaration. Now with the emergency order becoming permanent - AZ Roving notary has a jumpstart on providing you and your clients with the best online notary services.
However, one very important change needs to be noted for the wording on ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS or JURATS for the documents need to be notarized. For the Remote Online Notary process a change is required in the wording of these two notary certificates.
According to the Arizona Attorney General Approval of Rules Filed on March 19th, 2020 at 4:02pm:
R2-12-1307 Certificate of Notarial Act for Remote Online Notarization:
"A form of notarial certificate for remote online notarization satisfies the requirement of A.R.S. § 41-376(F) if it is in the form provided by applicable law and contains a statement substantially as follows: 'This remote online notarization involved the use of communication technology'."The document creator may or may not know if the signer will be using a traditional "wet signing" or if the signer will be using a newly commissioned Arizona Remote Online Notary.
To make the processes simpler and consistent, you can add flexibility to the acknowledgement by adding a checkbox to each of your acknowledgements or Jurats with something that effectively states that "communications technology was used to in this remote online notarization." This way the notary can check it if it is a remote notarization or can leave it unchecked if it is a traditional "wet signing".
Or, Just in case you haven't already added this wording, all of the platforms that AZ Roving Notary use for online notarizations either include this wording attached to the notary stamp - or allow for this wording to be added to the certificate with a text field by the notary.
Unsure if your client qualifies for remote online notary services - CONTACT US and we will be glad to review your client's qualifications.
P.S. And, since the remote online notary from AZ Roving Notary will be located in Maricopa County, Arizona (and the signer can be anywhere in the world), be sure that your certificates reflect the correct location of the notary.
At AZ Roving Notary we are not lawyers and we don't have advice to give you except to read the rules yourselves or ask the advice of an attorney.