[SisterBear]

I've searched but cannot find the answer...

The notary I hope to use for most of my documents signs her name Sally Smith (example). Her seal says Sally A Smith. I called the courthouse and she is registered as Sally Smith, without the A. Is she signing correctly?

Thanks, Lana

[praying4rlittl1]

Hmmm....her seal should match how she is registered as a notary. In other words, if she registered with the state as "Sally A. Smith", her seal should say "Sally A. Smith". That is what is confusing me. And for the record, her seal and signature definitely should match. Even to get the documents state sealed, they will have to match. I don't know what to tell you, but check into it some more before you have her sign anything.

[nwparents]

Our agency told us the notary's seal and signature have to match...exactly. It's weird that she's registered under a different name than her seal.

[SisterBear]

I seriously think I am going to lose it!!!! I will call the courthouse again on Monday and double-check how she is registered. Good grief.

ETA: My state has a notary look-up online and her middle initial is most definitely NOT listed. I think I will cry. Not to be overly dramatic, but I am also going to cry because I cannot find my SS card and I was going to have my fingerprints done today and the letter specifically says I must bring my SS card. When I am done crying, maybe I will eat some chocolate.

[ddhuab]

but the registered name does have to match the seal.

I talked to someone on the phone when I was looking up a mobile notary and somehow found out her seal and registered name did not match. (she claimed they made a mistake on her certification -- but, duh, she never pussued to correct the mistake)... she also did not seem to understand what I meant by authorization at the secretary of state and could not see why I had a problem with the discrepency.

I found another notary.

D.

[pvellozo]

i have to add to the chorus.
the name must match. we had to redo documents because the notary left out a middle initial or some such thing.
she should have known better.

[drjeanne]

Lana,
We, too, had this problem. The lady we wanted to use was registered at the courthouse one way and on her seal another way. The problem here is that once you become a notary, you can buy your own seal and have you name on there any way you want and sometimes they don't always remember that it's supposed to EXACTLY as it's registered at the courthouse! We ended up switching to another notary mainly because the courthouse we'd have to work through for the first one didn't have a clue how to do international adoption paperwork! I'd say go ahead and find another notary! you want to be SURE here because you definitely don't want to submit everything and then be kicked out of the process umpteen times trying to fix it!

Hang in there! The paperwork is MADDENING! We've all been there! Once your dossier is gone to Guatemala, hopefully, you can relax!

J

[DPline]

Eat some chocolate (I also find marshmellow fluff helps) and find another notary just in case. Our social worker arranged for her brother to notarize most of our documents for us and he signed every single one of them wrong (no middle initial) and they all had to be redone after they were rejected for state certification. If you are close to where they need to be certified you might try taking them in and see what happens, but I would be prepared for them to reject them. If you aren't close, you might even call them on Monday and see if you can get someone helpful on the phone to give you some input.

I'm sorry! (((hugs)))

[TBJS]

I would recommend that you get another notary where everything matches. Also make sure their notary doesn't expire for quite a long time.

My wife was EXTREMEMELY picky about all of our paperwork and we went through PGN both times without any issues. It takes longer in the beginning but is worth it in the long run.

[jlinberger]

Put it this way- on our first time around, we were KO'd out of PGN because the State Seal was one letter wrong in the spelling of the notary. (her name was Elisabeth and the sealer spelled it Elsibeth or something or other like that). Anyway, it was KO'd, we had to redo the doc, re-get the new state seal, re-authenticate, re-translate, etc. etc. You get the picture. Like a month's worth of work. I am now VERY VERY paranoid this second time around. Our most recent dossier, one of the notary's did NOT use her middle initial. The state sealer sealed the doc, but had her middle initial included. Problem. So, I just had the middle initial added to the notary form. All should match. Can you find a new notary? Any reason you must use this one?

[SisterBear]

Jennifer,

No reason I have to use this notary. She was just extremely convenient because all of our references and witnesses go to our church and she works in the church office! I was planning to use her for everything I could. Oh, well. It couldn't be that easy, could it!!!???

Lana

[Lilys Dad]

Lana,

The names must match. I see that you are in the state of Maryland. You can check to see if your notary is valid AND if they are using the same spelling at the state website locate at:

http://www.sos.state.md.us/Notary/NotarySearch.htm

MOST states have a similar way to lookup notary info and I suggest that all prospective adoptive parents verify that their notary is valid, that the commission expiration date is correct, that the documents are signed using their official signature, and finally that the state specified/required oath is used where appropriate on your documents. Unfortunately I have personally experienced problems with all of the above at one time or another.