Montana Amends Provisions Regarding Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts
The state of Montana amended provisions relating to its Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (the “Law”) that include electronic records, remote notarization and the use of electronic notarization systems and communicating technology. These provisions are effective on October 1, 2019.
Section 2 of the amendment revises laws related to notarial officers and notarial acts. It provides that the notarial officer who takes an acknowledgment or a verification on oath or who witnesses a signature must ensure that the signature on record is the signature of the individual and was made knowingly and willingly for the purposes intended.
The notarial officer must determine from personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence of the identity of the individual that the individual appearing before the notarial officer has the identity claimed and that the individual holds the title or capacity claimed and has knowingly and willingly signed the record in that capacity for the purposes intended.
The notarial officer may refuse to perform any notarial act if he or she is not satisfied that the official record evidences the individual’s capacity to act as the principal’s representative on the record presented for notarization.
The amendment revises the provisions related to electronic records by allowing the notarial officer to certify that a tangible copy of electronic record is an accurate copy of the electronic record and a county clerk is allowed to accept for recording a tangible copy of an electronic record containing an original notarial certificate as satisfying any requirement that a record be an original.
A notarial officer is allowed to perform a remote notarization or a remote online notarization for a principal who is located in the state of Montana, outside the state of Montana but within the United States or outside the United States if certain requirements are met. The amendment also provides circumstances under which a notarial officer may perform a remote notarization or remote online notarization.
The amendment further states that “a notarial act performed by means of communication technology is considered to have been performed in Montana and is governed by Montana law regardless of the physical location of the principal at the time of the notarization.”
Also, “where a principal or witness is appearing by means of communication technology, a notarial officer has satisfactory evidence of the identity of the individual if the notarial officer can identify the individual by two or more different types of technologies, processes, or services approved by the secretary of state, such as dynamic knowledge-based authentication assessment, valid public key certificate, identity proofing, remote presentation and credential analysis, or any other means prescribed in rule by the secretary of state.”
Section 3 amends the certificate of notarial acts provisions and states that a certificate evidencing a notarial act must be completed by a notarial officer. The certificate should specify the notarial act performed; identify the venue, the name of the principal, the type of record and issuing entity that is copied and must contain the impression or electronic image of the notary public’s official stamp or the notarial officer’s seal. A certificate of a remote notarization or remote online notarization must include the same information specified above and indicate that the notarial act was performed using communication technology.
The amendment provides that any changes or corrections made on any information on the certificate must be “dated and initialed by the notary public and a corresponding notation of the changes must be made in the journal record.” The notary public who performed the notarization is the only person allowed to make or authorize a change or correction to a previously completed certificate. However, “if a notary public authorizes a third party to change or correct the information included or omitted on a previously completed certificate, the authorization must be granted in writing and a copy of the message authorizing the change and a copy of the changed.”
Section 5 provides that a provider of an electronic notarization system must take reasonable steps to ensure that a notary public opting to use the provider’s system has the knowledge to use it to perform electronic notarial acts in compliance with the Law. The notary public must before performing his or her initial notarial act using an electronic notarization system or a communication technology notify the Secretary of State that he or she will be performing notarial acts using the electronic notarization system or the communication technology. The notary public must also complete a course of instruction approved by the Secretary of State and pass an examination based on the course.
Section 6 revises provisions relating to signatures and stamps. It provides that “the official signature of a notary public must: (a) be filed with the secretary of state on a form prescribed by the secretary of state; (b) be reasonably similar to the official signature on file with the secretary of state; (c) if executed on a tangible record, be in blue or black ink; (d) if executed on an electronic record, be an electronic image of the official signature submitted to the secretary of state; and (e) be affixed to all tangible and electronic records” The amendment also states that the notary public is the sole owner of the notary public’s stamping device.
Section 8 amends the audio-video recordings provisions by requiring the notarial officer to make an audio-visual recording of the entire communication where a notarial act is performed using communication technology and to keep sole possession of an audio-visual recording. The amendment also makes changes to the notary public journal provisions regarding contents of the notary public journal, the security, access, and retention of journals and recordings.
Section 9 and 10 revise provisions related to qualifications, training and examination of the notary public and authorize the Secretary of State to charge fees for training.
Section 12 revises the notarial officer authority to refuse to perform a notarial act and states that the “notary public shall refuse a request that would require the notary to: (a) use an electronic notarization system or a communication technology that the notary does not know how to operate; or (b) use an electronic notarization system or communication technology that does not meet the requirements of the Act or standards adopted by rule.”
The amendment also revises the prohibited acts provisions, fees notaries may charge, information included in the database of notaries public, and rulemaking authority of the Secretary of State. The amendment also clarifies notarial jurisdiction and venue, authorizes notaries public to solemnize marriages, provides for a certificate of authority to authenticate acts related to documents for use outside the United States, and establishes unlawful acts and penalties thereto.
Rhona Kyeyune, LLM, is a regulatory compliance consultant with CLA. She is a graduate of Makerere University and earned her master of laws at Boston University School of Law.
Hi. I noticed you didn’t provide the citation to this amendment. Can you provide it? Thanks!