FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NEW NOTARY RULES

QUESTION 1: Why wasn't I individually notified before the new rules went into effect?
ANSWER: The new rules were adopted in accordance with the Hawaii Administrative
Procedure Act, Haw. Rev. Stat. Ch. 91. Notices of the public hearing describing the
new rules were published in five newspapers of general circulation on February 29,
2008 (The Garden Isle), March 2, 2008 (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, The Maui News, and
West Hawaii Today), and March 9, 2008 (Hawaii Tribune-Herald) before Chapter 5-11,
Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR), went into effect. The duly noticed public hearing
concerning the rules was held on April 14, 2008, at the Department of the Attorney
General, 425 Queen Street, Honolulu, HI 96813. Although all legally required notice
requirements were met, we apologize that our notification to notaries was not better -- it
should have been better. We did some outreach, but not enough. We are currently
sending each active notary an informational sheet and these questions and answers,
and we are working with the Hawaii State Bar Association and various professionals
and businesses that regularly use notaries to further disseminate the new requirements.
QUESTION 2: What is the effective date of the new rules? Is there also a new notary
statute?
ANSWER: The new rules became effective on May 5, 2008. Act 175, Session Laws
Hawaii 2008, which also concerns notaries, will become effective on January 1, 2009.
We encourage you to read a complete copy of Act 175 and HAR Chapter 5-11, both of
which are available at our notary website: http://hawaii.gov/ag/notary/.
QUESTION 3: Why do we need rules that change the way documents are notarized?
ANSWER: The Department of the Attorney General and the Legislature received
complaints of fraud in connection with notarized documents, including reports of "jurat"
pages being detached from their original document and then "switched" or reattached to
another document for fraudulent purposes. The Legislature found that "there is an
alarming increase in the alteration of notarized documents for the purpose of identity
theft and fraud." One purpose of the new rules is to help prevent fraudulent use of
notarized documents by, among other things, having the notary list the number of pages
of each notarized document and providing an identification or description of the
notarized document "in close proximity" to the jurat or acknowledgment.
QUESTION 4: I notarized documents using an acknowledgment or jurat, and my
signature, seal, date, venue (City and County of Honolulu), and commission expiration
date, but without separately listing some of the other information specified in the new
rules, such as the number of pages in the document. Are the documents I notarized
valid and validly notarized?
ANSWER: The documents are valid and validly notarized, unless the acknowledgment
or jurat was fraudulent or contained a misrepresentation, or there was a defect in the
document itself. We believe the law on this subject is that defects in the manner of
notarization of a document do not affect the document's validity. We also believe that
if you notarized a document with an acknowledgment or jurat, and your signature,
seal/stamp, date, venue, and commission expiration date, the notarization is valid, and
omitting newly specified information (such as the number of pages in the document or
a separate description of the document) does not affect the validity of the notarization.
Nor does incorrectly counting the number of pages in the document affect the validity of
the notarization.
QUESTION 5: The new notary rules require that my seal or stamp have my
commission number on it. Can I still use my current seal or stamp, which does not have
my commission number, until I get my new one? Why is the commission number now
required on all seals and stamps?
ANSWER: HAR § 5-11-5 requires that you “obtain and keep” an official seal or stamp
which includes, among other information, your commission number. You should order a
new seal or stamp with your commission number immediately, but we understand it may
take some time before you actually obtain your new seal or stamp, and you may use
your old seal or stamp until you obtain your new one. We believe that requiring the
commission number on the notary seal and notary stamp, as many jurisdictions require,
will help fight fraud involving notarized documents.
QUESTION 6: I notarized a document with a seal/stamp that did not have my
commission number on it. Was that document validly notarized?
ANSWER: Yes, we believe it was validly notarized. Although each notary is required to
comply with the new rules, and to obtain and keep a new seal or stamp, nothing in the
rules states or indicates that a document notarized using an old seal or stamp was
invalidly notarized.
QUESTION 7: What should I do with my old seal or stamp?
ANSWER: Neither the law nor the rules requires you to turn in your old seal or stamp,
but you will need to turn it in to the Notary Public Office, along with your new seal or
stamp, once you stop being a notary. If you wish, however, you may mail or handdeliver
your old seal or stamp to the Department of the Attorney General Notary Public
Office, 425 Queen Street, Honolulu, HI 96813.