WY House Bill 36

Legislation

State: Wyoming
Signed: March 07, 2008

Effective: July 01, 2008
Chapter: 20

Summary

House Bill 36 enacts the Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, a model notarial law promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1982, and repeals the former Wyoming Acknowledgment Act and several other statutes governing the acceptance of acknowledgments performed by notarial officers of other U.S. states and jurisdictions.

Affects

Creates Sections 34-26-101 through 34-26-109 in; amends Sections 1-2-102, 5-9-140, 8-1-102, 11-17-102, 15-6-406, 22-5-214, 29-1-301, 29-2-106, 29-3-111, 29-5-103, 31-2-104, 31-2-504, 34-1-113, 34-1-118, 35-22-403, 36-9-106, 39-13-107, 40-2-104, and 41-3-310 of; and repeals Sections 34-1-114 through 34-1-117, 34-1-126, and 34-2-114 through 34-2-120 of the Wyoming Statutes.

Changes

Enacts the Uniform Law on Notarial Acts virtually intact.
Adds rules for the certifying of an instrument executed on behalf of a business entity and testamentary or express trust, requiring the person signing on behalf of the business entity or trustee signing on behalf of the trust to swear an oath that he or she has authority to execute the document representing the business entity or trust and that the acknowledgment is the free act and deed of the business entity or trust.
Adds the notarial acts of signature witnessing and copy certification to the authorized acts a Wyoming Notary or notarial officer may perform.
Clarifies that a Notary must identify any signer for an acknowledgment, verification upon oath or affirmation (jurat) and signature witnessing based upon the Notary’s personal knowledge of the signer or upon presentation of satisfactory evidence, and defines satisfactory evidence to include the oath of a credible witness personally known to the notarial officer or presentation of an identification document.Prescribes “short form” certificates for acknowledgments in an individual and representative capacity, verifications upon oath or affirmation, signature witnessings and copy certifications.
Clarifies that any document acknowledged in accordance with the laws of Wyoming prior to the effective date of the Wyoming Uniform Law on Notarial Acts are valid instruments.
Stipulates that all acknowledgments of the conveyance of lands or any interest in lands comply with the Wyoming Uniform Law on Notarial Acts.
Repeals the former Wyoming Acknowledgment Act and several statutes superseded by the Wyoming Uniform Law on Notarial Acts.
Makes conforming changes.

Analysis

Wyoming becomes the twelfth state to adopt in significant part the Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (ULONA), which coincidently, is currently under revision by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Wyoming’s enactment of the ULONA is important in at least two important respects: (1) It authorizes Notaries to perform the notarial acts of signature witnessing and copy certification; and (2) it plainly requires signers of documents requiring acknowledgments, verifications upon oath or affirmation (jurats) and signature witnessing to be positively identified.

Read House Bill 36.