AnalysisIn Louisiana, Notaries Public are given broad powers to draft documents and perform acts that Notaries across the rest of the United States are not authorized to perform. For example, a Louisiana Notary may draft and execute a contract of sale for real property. If the Notary makes a mistake in drafting the original document – say, by incorrectly noting the legal description of the property – the procedure for correcting it is for the Notary who performed the original act to issue an “act of correction.” The act of correction is an affidavit that is drawn up by the Notary containing a typical jurat. House Bill 470 clarifies that any Louisiana Notary Public may issue an affidavit of correction to correct an error in a notarial act affecting movable or immovable property or any other rights, if the Notary who issued the original authentic act or the Notary who prepared the act of correction is deceased, incapacitated or whose whereabouts are unknown, and if the Notary has access to the records of the Notary who is deceased, incapacitated or whose whereabouts are unknown and the records contain information to support the correction.
Read House Bill 470.