The speaker emphasizes resisting pressure from others who may try to bully, manipulate, or exploit your sympathy to obtain favors.
Saying no is framed as part of your commission, livelihood, and freedom; it can have serious consequences, including potential legal exposure (jail) for wrong actions.
A practical takeaway: when constituents or clients pressure you, articulate the boundary clearly and rely on professional obligations to justify refusals.
Insurance and Liability
Question raised about whether insurance for other licenses covers notary work.
Answer: No. Notary insurance is separate and does not automatically cover other licenses.
The instructor promises to go into detail about insurance requirements later in the course.
General Powers of the Notary (Notarial Powers)
Notaries have broad authority within their jurisdiction, subject to commission type:
Pre-2005 commissions (parish-based limits).
Post-02/2005 statewide commissions.
Powers include:
Inventories, appraisals, partitions
Receiving wills and administering legacies
Making protests, handling matrimonial contracts and prenuptial agreements
Conveyances and generally all contracts and instruments of writing
Receiving acknowledgments of instruments under private signatures
Making affidavits of correction
Affixing seals on documents related to deceased persons and handling related tasks
All acts performed by a notary, if done in conformity with the civil code, are authentic acts (authentic acts).
Civil Code article reference: ≈ 1833 (Civil Code § 1833) states that such acts are authentic.
Notaries also have authority to witness and administer certain duties beyond their parish limits, including various integral functions in the administration of estates.
Notaries across the state have the power to administer oaths at any parish, swear in witnesses for depositions, and verify interrogatories and other pleadings for use by courts of record in the state; these oaths have legal efficacy for perjury purposes.
Even a pre-2005 notary (limited commission) retains statewide power to administer oaths.
Certification of True Copies
A qualified notary public is authorized to certify true copies of:
Any authentic act
Any instrument under private signature presented before him/her or acknowledged before him/her
Any attached document (certificate, research, resolution, survey, etc.) that is part of the original act
These copies can be certified as true copies of the original documents attached to the source act.
Limitation: you cannot certify copies for documents that must be recorded elsewhere (e.g., certain acts handled by a corporate court or other designated records office).
The ability to certify true copies is thus broad but not universal; recording requirements may govern where copies can be certified.
Notary Acting Under Power of Attorney (POA)
A notary who is acting as an agent or attorney pursuant to a POA for someone else may still exercise notarial powers with respect to an act or instrument to which the principal is a party,
Provided the notary does not have a beneficial interest in the transaction or in the subject matter of the act.
If you are acting under a POA, you may sign for the principal and perform the notarization, which is effectively notarizing your own action on behalf of someone else.
The instructor notes this topic will be revisited when covering power of attorney later in the course.
Important caveat discussed earlier: notarizing your own signature isn’t generally permitted unless you are acting under a POA for someone else; in that case, you’re notarizing someone else’s signature, not your own.
Jurisdictional Limits (Pre- and Post-2005)
This section covers where you can notarize and the geographic rules governing pre-2005 commissions and post-2005 changes.
Page 56–57 references: a map on page 57 and a list of parish groups on page 56 (these are pre-2005 commissions).
Pre-02/2005 commissions:
Notaries may administer oaths in any parish in Louisiana.
For other acts, notarial acts must be executed within the limits of their jurisdiction.
Parish groups allowed extended jurisdiction: if your parish is in a group, you may also notarize in other parishes within that group.
Parish group examples (illustrative, based on the text):
Acadia parish group includes Evangeline and Saint Landry; if you notarize in Acadia, you can also notarize in Lafayette and Vermillion (these three parishes form the Fifteenth Judicial District in this example).
Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jeff Davis, Vernon form another group of six parishes.
There is a third group consisting of eight parishes (not listed explicitly in the excerpt).
These groupings show how pre-2005 notaries could extend their practice beyond their home parish within geographic clusters.
Notaries may exercise notarial functions in any parish with a population under 40ext,000 adjacent to their residence parish, provided the notary or their employer has an office in that parish.
This is intended to expand notarial access in nearby small parishes.
Post-2005 statewide jurisdiction:
Notaries who took and passed the exam after 06/13/2005 and attorneys licensed to practice in Louisiana have statewide jurisdiction.
Duties of the Office of Notary
The duties listed are foundational and emphasize ethics and legality:
1) Act without compromise of honesty. Do not compromise honesty for any reason; it compromises public trust and your professional integrity.
2) Refrain from drafting any act that is not in compliance with current statutory requirements. Ensure all statutory requirements are included.
If asked to notarize an act prepared by someone else that is missing statutory requirements, you must refuse to proceed (say no).
3) Do not execute any act that contains recitations or facts that misrepresent the circumstances of execution. Accuracy matters; avoid misstatements.
A duty also includes recording acts affecting immovable property within the statutory time frame (see next section).
Practical note: The phrase about the first two letters of the word "notary" being a clue to honesty or refusal is a mnemonic used in the session; the key is to uphold integrity.
Duty to Record Acts Affecting Immovable Property
Notaries must record acts affecting immovable property within specific timeframes:
Outside Orleans Parish: within 15extdays.
Orleans Parish: within 48exthours.
The statutory basis is found in Revised Statutes, Title 35 (which contains laws pertaining specifically to notaries).
If recording is required, you historically had to obtain mortgage and tax certificates from the parish recorder and parish assessor to show any mortgages or taxes due, but this requirement has been repealed for properties outside Orleans Parish.
Orleans Parish still has certain requirements.
Practice now: the notary may either obtain the relevant certificates and attach them to the act or obtain a waiver from the parties and hold the notary harmless. More details will be covered in Chapter 21 (Additional Provisions).
The act of recording is a separate duty; notaries must ensure proper procedures and consequences for non-recording, including potential liability and damages to parties.
Notaries must include directives in their acts, such as the full name of the party, and other statutory directives. A failure to include directives may not invalidate the act entirely, but the notary remains obligated to meet statutory requirements and avoid invalid acts.
Additional Directives and Compliance
Laws provide directives about what must be included in actes; for example, including the full name of the party.
Notaries are not relieved of the legal duty to perfect an act according to statutory requirements even if the act might still be valid despite omitting directive material.
The text alludes to further elaboration on the topic and related provisions later in the course (e.g., Chapter 21).
Recording Logistics and Costs
How to submit acts for recording:
Physically bring the original document to the Clerk of Court.
Mail the original document to the Clerk of Court’s office.
If the parish supports e-recording (electronic recording), you can scan and upload the document to the system for recording.
Not all parishes support e-recording; many still require the original paper document with ink.
Practical workflow in conveyances (especially for immovable property): title attorneys often use runners to deliver notarized documents to the clerk for recording at the end of the day.
Recording costs (illustrative, may vary by parish and page count):
First five pages: about 105extor110
Six to twelve pages: about 100
Beyond twelve pages: about 350 (and higher depending on the parish)
All recording costs are typically paid by the constituent (the client); as a notary, you can include these costs in your fee structure or list them as separate charges.
Practical Takeaways and Real-World Relevance
The notary’s authority is extensive but bound by jurisdiction and statutory requirements; understanding pre-2005 parish groupings helps explain historical practice patterns, while post-2005 statewide commissions simplify jurisdiction.
The requirement to record acts promptly is crucial to prevent liability and ensure enforceability of conveyances and other instruments affecting real property.
Ethics and accuracy are foundational: never abandon statutory requirements for expediency or client pressure; refuse when necessary to protect all parties and uphold public trust.
When dealing with POA scenarios, understand that notarizing another person’s signature via a POA is distinct from notarizing your own signature; always confirm you do not have a beneficial interest in the act.
Costs, logistics, and modern methods (such as e-recording) can significantly affect workflow and client charges; staying current on parish practices is essential.
Final Notes and Open Questions
There are additional provisions and nuances discussed in later chapters (e.g., Chapter 21) that cover how to handle mortgage tax certificates, waivers, and other regulatory details.
The transcript ends mid-topic with a note that there are more requirements not yet shown; readers should anticipate further details in the subsequent sections about "juridical acts" and their specific statutory requirements.