Only when the required notarial act is an acknowledgment—and if all requirements of the notarial act can be met—then yes… a notary may notarize a document that is already signed.
To make a notarized letter, begin with your contact details, create a clear message explaining the purpose of the letter. Include any legal language if necessary. Conclude with a formal closing and leave space for your signature. And that's how you write a statement that needs to be notarized.
Remember that under no circumstances are you permitted to backdate or otherwise falsify the date a signature is notarized, regardless of whether the document has a separate date on it or not.
Backdating is both unethical and, more importantly, illegal. Including a prior date on the document can come back to haunt notaries later down the road. A notary public's primary purpose is to bear witness to the signing of a document.
Just like wills, there is generally no requirement that a contract be notarized in order to be legally binding. However, if a party who signed a business agreement decides to dispute that agreement in court, a notarized contract can help a great deal.
One of the most common mistakes that notaries make is not printing or signing their name exactly as it appears on their notary commission.
If the individual is acknowledging his or her signature, they may have signed the document a long time ago. As long as the person is able to confirm that the signature belongs to them, the notary can finish the process.
I, ___________, a ___________, in and for said County in said State, hereby certify that ______________, whose name as ___________ (here state representative capacity) is signed to the foregoing conveyance and who is known to me, acknowledged before me on this day that, being informed of the contents of the conveyance, ...
Write the name of the person swearing to the truthfulness of the contents of the documents. Sign your name exactly as it appears on file with the Secretary of State and affix the official notary seal so that all the required elements of the notary seal appear legibly.