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Notary Voices: Your most stressful notarizations

Notary Voices: Your most stressful notarizations

Have your own stressful notarization story? Join the conversation in our Facebook community.

Most people think that notarization is a simple process. The Notary just signs the certificate and puts their stamp on it. Quick, easy and fun, right? But as they say in today’s online parlance, if you know, you know: More often than not, it’s nowhere near that simple.

In fact, Notaries across the country encounter stressful situations every day. From signers presenting unsuitable IDs to having to refuse improper notarization requests, the challenges are endless. Then there’s the whole cornucopia of dramatic situations that can hit you out of nowhere.

We recently asked the NNA Community to share their own stories in our recent question of the week: What’s the most stressful notarization you’ve ever performed? There’s been nearly 80 responses so far, and here are a few that will make your head spin:

Debby McQuillen of New York had a concerning situation present itself on Christmas Eve:

“I had a signing for an elderly gentleman on Christmas Eve. When I arrived at his home he didn’t answer the door. I could see him through a window in the door. I knocked, rang the doorbell, called his phone for 5-10 minutes and he didn’t move. I finally called the police for a welfare check. They arrived and the neighbor came over with a spare key and he was fine, just sound asleep. It scared me, but I was thankful he was ok and coherent. He thanked me for being concerned.”

Notary Sue England recounted an unusual situation involving signers from another country:

“I did a refinance for a couple from Iran. Their English was better than my Farsi, and I had to explain to them they must sign their names exactly as they were listed on the documents. They printed their names as their signatures. It was done in my presence, and I witnessed them doing it. A week later, the title company made me go back out to redo the signing, without pay, because they claimed the lender rejected the docs due to the signers printing their names.”

Terri Kotchevar of Porterville, California experienced a stressful adoption-related transaction with a happy ending.

“One of my co-workers went through the process of adopting a baby from Vietnam and asked me to notarize for her. I went with her to notarize documents from her doctor and law enforcement and, in the process, I made more than one call to the NNA Hotline. I got it done and she traveled to Vietnam to get the baby! For her baby shower, I got her one of the "Notarized Baby" onesies the NNA used to sell. It was a stressful, but rewarding, experience!”

Jerry Ritter of San Diego, California recounted a heated situation that almost ended in violence:

“I had a couple that was getting divorced and he was refinancing a property to pay her off. He didn’t get enough money out of the deal, and she wanted him to sign a letter stating he would pay her the balance at a later day. He refused to sign a letter. He stood up like he was going to hit her. I had to call the police.”

Kim Roberts of Scottsdale, Arizona found herself in a pinch when the lenders’ document transfer processes weren’t up to par.

“I had three refis on a Friday afternoon with three different lender teams working two hours ahead of me, and all of them stayed late hoping to record the transactions from scans. None of them had online document transfer portals or a Dropbox, so the docs had to be emailed in in small batches. I also had poor cell service. None of the attachments would go through email and the loans didn’t close that day because of it.”

Bonus story! Notary Tara Broadway of Godfrey, Illinois recounts almost being restrained by a signer in the boonies:

“I did a notarization that was out in the country and it was for the sale of a house that was somewhere else. When we got done with the signing the seller asked me for the check to finalize payment for the sale. I told her I didn’t have it because it was supposed to be wired to her bank. She flipped out and tried to keep me hostage. She finally called her realtor and they explained everything to her.”

Editor’s note: Some responses have been lightly edited for grammar and clarity. Original posts can be found on the NNA’s question of the week thread.

Phillip Browne is the Vice President of Communications at the National Notary Association.

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10 Comments

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Lorraine W. Pereverziev

19 Aug 2025

One of my biggest concerns is elder abuse. More than once I have had to ask a family member to leave the room so that I could converse with the signer to determine they understood what they were doing, and that they were doing it willingly. On one occasion, the son finally moved to the living room, but kept up the banter. I started to pack up my things (he had be warned) and he realized nothing was going to get done. He most unwillingly left the room. I spent nearly two hours with the mom, but she did, in fact, want to sign and was clear on what was going on. This is why remote online notarization worries me so. Who knows what kind of gun (figuratively or literally) is being held against the signer outside of the camera's view. Very scary times...

Tamara Kagan

19 Aug 2025

It was an out-of-state purchase signing. A borrower’s middle name listed on all the loan and escrow docs was absolutely different from what he had on the BC, moreover no other ID contained the middle name. A lender’s rep tried to convince me that any other notary would not have any problems notarizing like that and when I refused, they became aggressive and tried to blackmail me saying different things from putting me on some kind of a black list or reporting me to the authorities. Long story short- next day I came with a new set of docs as the escrow asked me not to refuse signing after docs are revised, apologized many times for the unprofessional behavior of that rep. Turned out it was his mistake in the first place.

Paula Stoops

19 Aug 2025

Had a signer put his gun on the kitchen table where we were signing and he refused to put it on the chair or another room. "if anyone shows up I'm going to shoot them" OMG! He was biligerant the entire time. Texas does have some wild wild west areas.

James I

18 Aug 2025

I had a signer tell me to go perform obscene acts upon myself because I would not notarize the signature of her husband - who was not physically present at the time of the signing. She insisted that it was fine because he was her husband, and that she was attesting that he signed it... It was a divorce-related document that she would reap massive financial benefits from had the document been improperly executed as she requested.

C. Diane Barbour

18 Aug 2025

I notarized divorce papers for a couple and a week later the husband attacked the supposed other man with gasoline and set him on fire. Causing third degree burns over 60 percent of his body. My client of course is charged with attempted murder.

Grace Keshishyan

18 Aug 2025

Oh, where do I begin, I have had so many. But this one is the winner of all the others, because, I had to play a therapist-psychologist. Los Angeles, CA, during my signing the borrower, (man) looked at me during hafe way through the signing and said you are so beautiful, I didn't respond to his comment and said this is a very important document and you must signing here pointing with my pen to the signature line. He signed, than he said he is going to kill himself, at this point I said, MR. May I ask why would you want to do that? You have a beautiful home, you have a great secure job and you make comfortable living, so many people would like to be where you are, so why would you want to do that? This is where he softened and said my wife left me, what am I going to do at this age (he was in his late fifties,) I have seen everything in life, abd done everything. My kids are gown and out of the house, they have their girlfriends, they visit every now and than, so why should I live, I am a lone and I have seen everything. I said no, you have not seen everything, from what you have told me, you have at list 3 things tgat you have not seen and done. This is where he got serious and asked what it is? I said you have not seen your children get married that's one, you have not seen your future grandchildren , abd you have not played with your grandchildren where you take tham to the park, or keep them in with you in this beautiful home and teach them your wisdom, about life, or be a kid again with them and looked at the world within their eyes. You know your future grandchildren need that. He got quite and looked at me and said are you always graceful like this. I jokingly said, yes, it comes with my name, after all I am Grace. He smiled and said thank you for reminding him of these things because he has not thought about it. We finished the signing and he escorted my to the car and apologized for his behavior in the meantime thanking me for everything. True story.

Lbolind@bolindlaw.com

18 Aug 2025

I was doing the notary work for a closing for a Chinese couple buying a house out of a contentious divorce. We thought the divorce parties would be a problem, but no, everything was smooth. When we asked the Chinese gentleman where his wife was (she was a co-signer on the mortgage) he said she was working at the family restaurant and he would sign her name for her. Absolutely not! We then all traveled to the restaurant for her to sign which was very busy at the lunchtime peak hour. A very vocal and heated argument broke out between the husband and wife (only spoken in Chinese.) We were all clueless what the argument was about. At that point the husband was almost in tears, and confided that the wife adamantly did not want to buy the house and would not sign because the house was an unlucky color. The closing party all ordered lunch and once the wife had calmed down she was persuaded to sign the closing documents only after the husband promised to paint the house a lucky color. Patience and calm consideration prevailed.

Rasul Hossain

18 Aug 2025

Many years ago, I did a quit claim deed for a person, and later I got a letter from the attorney saying that I was involved in falsifying the Notary Act. I had to send them a copy of my line Journal along with the thumb print. Later, I discovered that the person appeared in front of me was an identical twin of an original signer. What a stressful situation. Later the family worked out their own difference. l

Christopher V

18 Aug 2025

I had a customer who was shaking and asking her daughter 'is everything ok?' and the daughter would look at me and say "its ok she's old". I asked the signer if she understood what she was signing and she just kept asking her daughter over and over "is everything ok?" The daughter grabbed her hand to attempt to force her to sign a document. I immediately refused to notarize concerned for the welfare of the woman. The daughter was angry with me but I could sense she was being coerced into this transaction. I informed her that due to her mother's apparent lack of understanding of her wherabouts and not acknowledging me that I cannot legally perform the notarization. I was verbally challenged but she eventually left. It was stressful to say the least.

Charity Owens

18 Aug 2025

I had a pretty wild signing myself. I’m glad to see I wasn’t alone.

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