AnalysisIn Virginia, persons commissioned as an electronic Notary are issued a separate commission to perform electronic notarial acts. The process included having to appear before the clerk of the circuit court in which the applicant’s electronic Notary commission was sent to take an oath of office. However, Senate Bill 270 has removed the requirement for electronic Notary commission applicants to take a separate oath of office. Presumably, since by definition an electronic Notary must first be a Notary, he or she has already taken the oath of office before the circuit court clerk and this one oath was deemed to be sufficient. SB 270 also amends Virginia’s conflict of interest statute. Under existing statute, a Notary named as a fiduciary in a will does not have a conflict of interest and may notarize the will. The new law broadens this exception to any type of document in which the Notary is named as executor, trustee or fiduciary, as well as documents in which the Notary is named for the purpose of receiving notices.
Read Senate Bill 270.