Can a notary notarize a document that is in a language they can't read?

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Can a notary notarize a document that is in a language they can't read?

This article was written by Leon Austin. Leon's blog can be found on ActiveRain. If you haven't joined ActiveRain, please allow me to invite you to submit your profile. ActiveRain receives excellent search engine rankings, and it's free! You do not have to write any articles although it does provide you with greater visibility.

In this article, Leon mentions a little known fact about what documents a notary is allowed to sign. You might be surprised.

Notarizing A Document in Russian

Most of the requests that I get to notarize foreign language documents are for German documents, since German is the language that I know.

This morning I got a call from a Russian man, asking if I would notarize his signature for a Russian document.

Of course.

When I got there he showed me the document. I had him sign it, and then I notarized his signature.

What did the document say?

I have absolutely no idea.

A notary public does not concern themselves with the contents of the document. We notarize signatures, not documents.  And Colorado notary law does not prohibit Colorado notaries from notarizing documents in a foreign language.

However, there are some measures that I took.  The first thing I did was take a photo of the document with my digital camera.  Whenever I notarize a document in a foreign language, usually for copy certifications, I keep a copy of the document for my records.

Also, I attached a loose certificate.  So although the document is in Russian, the notary certificate is in English.  And that is really all that is required. 

I don't know the notary laws of all states, so the prudent thing for any notary to do is to make sure that their state notary laws allow them to notarize a document in a foreign language.

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