AnalysisSimply put, Senate Bill 114 is a very bad bill. The intent of this bill may have been to allow Notaries to notarize the signatures of witnesses to a self-proved will when the Notary is the actual maker (testator) of the will or one of the witnesses. However, the effect of the bill, intended or not, is to allow a Notary to notarize his or her own signature on a self-proved will and to allow a clearly self-interested beneficiary of a will to notarize the signatures of the maker and any witnesses.
A self-proved will is a will that is acknowledged by the testator and contains affidavits of the witnesses. By notarizing the signatures of the testator and witnesses, the will can be probated faster because it eliminates the need for the witnesses to appear in court at the time the will is filed with the court.
Senate Bill 114 also allows an attorney who is a Notary to notarize a document in which the attorney is named as representing the signer or any person named in the document.
These exceptions to the rule prohibiting a Notary from notarizing when the Notary has a disqualifying interest undermine the foundation of the Notary Public office. The very reason to have a document notarized in the first place is to have an unbiased and impartial third party witness certify to the execution of the document. When the Notary himself or herself stands to gain personally from a document — as the beneficiary of a will, for example — the notarial act cannot achieve its intended effect.
Read Senate Bill 114.