Legislation
State: Kansas
Signed: April 21, 2021
Effective: April 21, 2021
Chapter: 65
Summary
Senate Bill 122 makes documents acknowledged before a Notary or notarial officer “self-authenticating” for the purposes of admission into evidence in a judicial proceeding.
Affects
Amends Section 60-465 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated.
Changes
- Amends the rules of evidence to provide that documents accompanied by a certificate of acknowledgment executed by a Notary Public or other officer authorized to take acknowledgments are self-authenticating.
AnalysisNotarized documents play an important role in judicial proceedings. Hearings are held to determine the evidence that will be admitted to trial. Senate Bill 122 clarifies that documents that are acknowledged before a Notary or other officer authorized to take acknowledgments are “self-authenticating.” This means that no proof other than the certificate of acknowledgment is necessary to prove their genuineness for the purpose of admitting the notarized document into evidence. Of course, the genuineness of the acknowledgment certificate may be rebutted during the trial but not before it is entered as evidence into trial. If a document or other evidence is not self-authenticating, its authenticity must be proven before the evidence can be entered into evidence in a trial. This self-authentication of acknowledged documents is very powerful benefit of having a document acknowledged before a Notary.
Read Senate Bill 122.