Updated 5-18-22.
To all of our readers asking for more information about working with living trusts: Thank you for contacting us regarding this article! We're glad you found it interesting and helpful. We received so many queries about this that Laura and Shelly have been flooded with messages. Unfortunately, at this time, the company that Laura and Shelly work with in California is not seeking any new Notaries. However, Laura offers a Notary living trusts training class, and she suggests that Notaries can get started by contacting estate planning attorneys in your area to see if they need mobile Notary for their clients. We wish you good luck with your search! — The Editors
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When Fresno signing agent and business owner Shelly Kitchen saw her loan signing assignments go from 25 to 35 a week to about 10 a month, she wasn’t surprised — it’s a reality of the cyclical mortgage industry, after all. Still, she knew she had to find ways to diversify her Notary business in order to keep afloat. That’s when she discovered the value of having relationships with other Notaries in her area.
Looking for some guidance, she turned to colleague Laura Biewer, who introduced her to a lucrative revenue stream notarizing living trusts and referred her to a company that hires Notaries for these assignments.
A living trust is a legal estate-planning document detailing exactly what the grantor wants done with his estate, assets, healthcare and legal affairs, both after, and in some cases, during, his lifetime, should he become incapacitated.
Living trust signing appointments typically 60 to 75 minutes for a two-person trust — roughly the same as a loan signing. Generally no pre-printing of documents is involved.
The company Kitchen was referred to provided her comprehensive over-the-phone training and scripts to follow. She also studied sample trusts and accompanied Biewer on signings to see how they were done. “Mistakes might not be discovered for years, and might come back to bite you,” says Kitchen, who triple-checks every document.
“I remind signers of everything they will need when first making the appointment, then I call them on the day of the appointment to remind them again,” says Kitchen, explaining that elderly signers can sometimes require extra time and patience.
Ensuring signers are aware of what they are signing is paramount when it comes to end-of-life documents or those requiring powers of attorney. That sometimes means speaking a little slower and a little louder, should elderly signers require it.
“Talking about death is comfortable for me,” says Kitchen, who often draws upon her past job experience as a funeral arrangement planner. “I tell my signers that this is the time when you want to discuss these issues, when you are healthy and happy.”
“Whether you are delivering a loan document or a living trust, the experience should be a happy one,” says Kitchen, whose humor and positive attitude have helped her build lasting client relationships. “They’ve generally already talked to the lawyers or bankers and have done all the hard work. I’m just the final step in the process. Why not make it a happy one?”
Kitchen’s ample training, attention to detail, and overall positive attitude — along with the helpful nudge from Laura Biewer — have all helped her to expand her long-standing Notary business. “I sent Laura a thank you gift,” says Kitchen, who continues to pay it forward by mentoring others in the field.
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