Hamilton Notary Public
Who is a Commissioner of Oaths?
A commissioner of oaths is an individual authorized to certify oaths of another upon certain documents. Commissioners of oath essentially oversee and administer the process of taking oaths. Commissioners of oath are certified with a limited degree of legal power. Their authorizations go as far as witnessing affirmations and swearings.
Oftentimes, an oath administration is all that you need. Other times, you need documents to be verified and certified true copies need to be issued. In these cases, a commissioner of an oath is not licensed to the full extent of your requirements. In these scenarios, you need to seek a notary public. At Hamilton Notary Public, our legal professionals are authorized to administer oaths, and to notarize public/private documents.
The Process
At Hamilton Notary Public, our experienced team of notary publics provides you with accessible and convenient notarization and commissioning services. We offer appointment based notarization/commissioning as well as walk-in services. We ask that you refrain from signing any of the documents prior to coming into our office. Our team is able to copy and print your documents for free if necessary.
Certified True Copies
When coming into your appointment at Hamilton Notary Public, we ask you to bring the original as well as the copy of the document you are looking to get notarized. The comparison between the original and copied document cannot be made unless our office has tangible copies of both documents. Our office will make copies of the document if need be, however, providing us with the copy will ensure the efficiency and convenience of the notarization process.
Then, the notary public at Hamilton Notary Public will compare the copy of the document to the original. You can choose whether you would like the stamp on the copy of the original document, or you can choose to have a certificate attached to the copied version of the document that verifies it as a true copy of the original. Once you specify your preference, the Hamilton Notary Public will notarize your certified true copy and, confirming its legal validity.
Affidavits and Signed Documents
Once you come into the office, our Hamilton Notary Publics will begin by verifying your identity. Our legal professionals will require you to provide a government issued piece of identification in order to make sure that you are, in fact, who you say you are.
After the identity verification, our Hamilton Notary public will witness the signing of the document. The notary public must make sure that the signee is undergoing the signing process voluntarily. In other words, the notary public will make sure that there is no undue stress or coercion going into the signing of the document.
Alongside the notary public ensuring the signer’s willingness to sign, he/she must also make sure that the signee is of sound mind and therefore, capable of making the decision to sign the document. It is important to note that the notary public is able to decline notarizing the document if the signer is not deemed to be capable of understanding the document that he/she is signing.
As long as the signer is mentally sound enough to sign the document and is doing so voluntarily, our Hamilton notary public will proceed to stamp the document, affirming its legal legitimacy