The NNA Hotline receives hundreds of calls daily from Notaries nationwide who find themselves in challenging situations. To boost your knowledge of Notary best practices, we’ve created a series of scenarios based on actual situations and ask a simple question: What would you do?
As a long-time Notary, you’ve performed a wide variety of notarizations over the years. But today’s request has you a little stumped. The signer, a healthy-looking young woman in her mid-20s, has a contract that’s several pages long.
“I’ve agreed to be an egg donor,” she says, summarizing the contents of the document. “This is the agreement we had our lawyers draw up to be notarized. The couple that will be receiving the egg has already signed and had their signatures notarized, but I need to have my signature notarized, as well.”
You scan the document and notice that only her first name is listed as the “Egg Donor.” Likewise, only the first names of the recipients are used throughout the contract.
“We want this to remain anonymous,” she explains, “so we are only using first names.” She presents a valid ID, and the first names match. But the question is…
What would you do?
Given the sensitivity of the situation and the desire for the parties to remain anonymous, would you perform a notarization on an egg donor contract containing only the donor’s first name?
To participate in this week’s “What Would You Do?” scenario, share your answers in the comments section below. We may mention your response in next week’s Bulletin, when we offer the best possible answer(s) to this notarial challenge.