quote:
In a Civil-Law system, the Notary Public has had expansive powers and operated in the absence of attorneys or in lieu of when paperwork, bills of sale, title conveyances and other official documentation was needed for recording purposes. That tradition has survived to the present day in Louisiana as a result of our continued use of the Civil Law System. As a result, unlike the rest of the Nation, Louisiana Notary Publics can actually draft documents like wills, trusts, mortgages, and other types of contracts and agreements between different combinations of people, businesses, organizations and entities. They can even open and close small (notarial) successions underneath $150K in Louisiana provided there is no out of state property. As a result of the power and authority they have-and the aformentioned crooked if not outright broken process in commissioning notary public's locally-the testing process was standardized in Louisiana statewide and authority for testing and commissions was brought underneath the Secretary of State's Office. They are also charged with enforcement of malfeasance/misfeasance in a muddled relationship with local District Attorney's. That muddling and the SOS's lack of real enforcement dollars and focus means that-in concert with a lack of continuing education requirements and a lifelong commission-poor work happens more often than most of us would like.

Well said. Thanks for posting, I was laughed at earlier for basically saying the same thing.

2 ...

Report Post

Posted by GFunk

Denham Springs

Member since Feb 2011

14970 posts

Posted on 1/31/19 at 9:56 pm to Tester1216

Thanks. I truly don’t mean anything bad with this... but you went a little overboard in the comparison to attorneys earlier in the thread. Nothing crazy. But still.

Have a good one.

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by Twenty 49

Shreveport

Member since Jun 2014

20865 posts

Posted on 2/1/19 at 6:05 am to Tester1216

quote:
As a result, unlike the rest of the Nation, Louisiana Notary Publics can actually draft documents like wills, trusts, mortgages, and other types of contracts and agreements between different combinations of people, businesses, organizations and entities. They can even open and close small (notarial) successions underneath $150K in Louisiana provided there is no out of state property.

But are taking a big risk to do so unless they have professional liability insurance. Most lawyers have millions in malpractice insurance. Notaries usually have $10K or so at best.

If the notary handles a will, mortgage, or real estate transaction, they can easily find themselves sued if there is an issue about how the papers were drafted (if they handled that part) or even just how the sigs were done.

For example, the testator on a notarial will must represent that he signed before the two witnesses and the notary. A notary has been sued because they called in a witness/secretary from the next room to sign as a witness a few minutes after the testator signed. Others have been sued because they notarized a sig on an act of sale of expensive real estate without verifying ID.

That's the kind of suit that could cost you your house or require bankruptcy--even if you win in the end. We have a couple of notaries in the family who are not malpractice insured, and they won't touch anything like will/real estate because of liability risk. Not worth the $20 to risk your house and savings.

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by PANTHER

Bunkie

Member since Oct 2004

2398 posts

Posted on 5/1/19 at 10:01 pm to PANTHER

Update. Just got my results.....I am now a Notary Public

1 ...

Report Post

Posted by DozaJ03

Member since Jan 2018