On the acknowledgment form, we were taught to line through the nonapplicable pronouns (his/her/their) as an extra layer of security? In this new age of gender X, is this still the preferred practice for completing an acknowledgement? — P.P., California
The NNA no longer advises Notaries to line through certificate wording when completing a certificate of notarial act. This decision was made for many reasons. No state that we know of has a law or regulation requiring Notaries to make cross outs, and few, if any, recommend it in guidelines published online or in state Notary handbooks. Notaries were known to make mistakes in crossing words out on a notarial certificate. Those mistakes led to documents being rejected for recording. In all the years the NNA recommended that Notaries cross out words in a notarial certificate to prevent fraud, we did not learn of any instance of a Notary making cross outs that prevented fraud. You bring up one that we hadn’t been considered. We suspect that over time states will modify their statutory notarial certificates to make them more gender neutral.
Hotline answers are based on the laws in the state where the question originated and may not reflect the laws of other states. If in doubt, always refer to your own state statutes. – The Editors
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