NJ bank won’t notarize American Atheist documents for ‘personal reasons’

[LibertyLover]

47. Agreed

This is something I have to explain all the time. I work in a large international organization which picks up the costs of my being a notary in DC on the understanding that I will not just notarize documents needed by it, but also our employees. So I have people coming to me for notarial services a lot. I am constantly having to explain that by notarizing something, I am not authenticating it. All I'm doing is confirming that you signed the document and I saw adequate proof that you were who you said you were. If they want it authenticated, I have a specific stamp that has them confirm the document in question is a true and correct copy and a place for their signature, which I then notarize. I'm not seeing anything in the Code that says I can refuse to notarize something. In fact we were told when I took the class that if the individual before us had satisfied the requirement of proving who they were, we could not refuse notarial service. I was never a notary in New Jersey, although I was one in New York and if I remember correctly, it was the same there as well. The NJ notary in question may have a legal right in New Jersey to refuse to notarize something, but I'd want to see the law on it.