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NV Assembly Bill 99

Legislation

State: Nevada
Signed: June 01, 2013

Effective: January 01, 2014
Chapter: 293

Summary

Assembly Bill 99 introduced the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (RULONA) as adopted by the Uniform Law Commission, but a significant amendment put forward by the Secretary of State kept only certain sections the Secretary’s office thought were most necessary.

Affects

Adds as yet uncodified sections to and amends Sections 240.001, 240.065, 240.120, 240.1635, 240.165, and 240.1655.1 of the Nevada Revised Statutes.

Changes
  1. Defines “domestic partner,” “Notary Public,” “person” and “state.”
  2. Prohibits a Notary from notarizing if the signer of the document acknowledged, sworn to, witnessed or attested is the domestic partner of the Notary, or a relative of the Notary’s domestic partner by marriage or consanguinity.
  3. Related to the prohibition against notarizing for relatives, clarifies that a grandparent, parent, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother or stepsister of the domestic partner of the Notary, and a natural born child, stepchild or adopted child of a sibling or half sibling of the domestic partner of the Notary are properly considered a “relative.”
  4. Prohibits a notarial officer other than a Notary Public from performing a notarial act with respect to a record to which the officer or the officer’s domestic partner is a party or in which either of them has a direct beneficial interest in the document acknowledged, sworn to, witnessed or attested.
  5. Prohibits a Notary Public from performing a notarial act if the notarial act is prohibited by NRS 240.001 to 240.169, inclusive, and clarifies that a notarial act so performed is voidable.
  6. In addition to prohibiting a Notary from notarizing if the Notary executed or is named in the document acknowledged or sworn to, prohibits a Notary from notarizing if the Notary executed or is named in the instrument witnessed or attested.
  7. Clarifies that a notarial officer has personal knowledge of the identity of a person appearing before the notarial officer if the person is personally known to the officer through dealings sufficient to provide reasonable certainty that the person has the identity claimed.
  8. Clarifies that a credible witness who identifies a document signer must appear before the Notary or notarial officer.
  9. Adds the requirement that a signer must be an employer or coworker of the Notary and the notarial act must relate to a transaction performed in the ordinary course of the person’s business for the Notary not to require the person to sign the Notary’s journal as provided in NRS 240.120(3).
  10. Provides that a notarial certificate must be signed in the same manner as the signature of the notarial officer that is on file with the Secretary of State.
  11. Provides that if a person is physically unable to sign a document that is presented to a notarial officer, the person may direct a person other than the notarial officer to sign the person’s name on the document. The notarial officer must insert “Signature affixed by (insert name of other person) at the direction of (insert name of person)” or words of similar import.
  12. Authorizes a notarial act to be performed by a person authorized to perform that specific notarial act by the law of a federally recognized Indian tribe or nation.
  13. Clarifies that a person authorized to perform notarial acts by the law of a federally recognized Indian tribe or nation is not required to keep a journal.
  14. Provides that a notarial act has the same effect under the law of Nevada as if performed by a Nevada notarial officer if performed within the jurisdiction of and under authority of a foreign nation or its constituent units or a multinational or international organization by a person authorized by federal law to perform notarial acts, or a person authorized by the law of a federally recognized Indian tribe or nation to perform notarial acts.
  15. Makes technical corrections.
Analysis
Assembly Bill 99 introduced the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (RULONA) as adopted by the Uniform Law Commission, but a significant amendment put forward by the Secretary of State’s office gutted most the RULONA provisions, keeping in only certain sections the Secretary’s office thought were most necessary, while ensuring that the bill would not significantly alter Nevada’s Notary laws. AB 99 retains the RULONA definition of personal knowledge of identity and provisions related to notarizations performed by persons who are members of a federally-recognized Indian tribe. The amendment also added to the already strong disqualifying interest provisions in current statute a prohibition against the Notary notarizing a document for a domestic partner or relative of a domestic partner. (Note: The RULONA has bracketed language prohibiting a notarial officer from notarizing for a civil partner, but it leaves it up to the states whether to adopt this provision.) A couple of other interesting provisions in the bill are ones that require a credible witness identifying a document signer to be present before a Notary Public, and a further requirement to a statute allowing a Notary to omit obtaining the signature of a person in the Notary’s journal. Currently, a Notary is required to have a signer sign the journal unless the Notary has performed a notarial act for the person within the previous 6 months and has personal knowledge of the identity of the person. AB 99 adds the further conditions that the person must also be an employer or coworker of the Notary and that the notarial act must relate to a transaction performed in the ordinary course of the person’s business.
 
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