I worked in a law firm and left recently. I have come to find that after I left a document that I notarized was altered and submitted to the courts. It shows me notarizing a document that I did clearly not since the date of the document is well after I left the firm. They also tried to match my hand writing on the documents, but it is clearly not mine.
What should I do about this?

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Originally Posted by lkb429

I worked in a law firm and left recently. I have come to find that after i left a document that i notarized was altered and submitted to the courts. It shows me notarizing a document that i did clearly not since the date of the document is well after i left the firm. They also tried to match my hand writing on the documents, but it is clearly not mine.
What should i do about this?

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How did you come to find all this if you didn't work there any more?

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Originally Posted by lkb429

... What should i do about this?

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First, review the notary public statute and regulations in your state to see if there are any specific things you have to do in a situation like this. Also consider notifying the surety on your bond.

You might also have a duty to report this to the court in which the document was filed. In my state I once noticed that there is a (seldom if ever used) statute providing that a notary has the power to issue a subpoena, examine witnesses, and determine the circumstances.

Did you leave your notarial seal when you left the firm? In many states you should not have done that. Is the seal on the document?

And, like Smoothy, I am curious how you happened to find out about this.

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Originally Posted by lkb429

... a document that i notarized was altered and submitted to the courts. It shows me notarizing a document that i did clearly not ...

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Wait a minute. You are saying two different things.

• a document you did notarize was subsequently altered.
• there is a document you did not notarize, and your signature was forged.

Which is it?

Yes two different issues,

First as a notary you are not involved in what the document even says, just that the people who signed them provided proof it was them that signed.
So in this case you do nothing, The person or people who signed will need to sue or file a complaint that someone altered the document. They should have copies when they signed.

It is not your issue or involvement of people who change or forge documents after you do a notary.


If someone is using your notary stamp or a copy of it, and forging your signing and witness that is a criminal issue and you report that to the police.

I discovered that this happened through the courts efiling documents. The document was altered by whiting out what was on the document and then a new date a written on the document with the new information. So the document has my signature and stamp on it but information on the document was altered and dated after I left.

It was efiled with the courts and accessible through the court website

As noted you are not responsible for the content of the document. If the signatures were not altered, then there may not be an issue. But if you feel someone is attempting to commit a fraud on the court, report it to the court clerk.

In MY State Notaries don't verify the document. They verify the signature. I don't even read the documents!

A falsified signature? Yes, I would report that.

Unless you photocopy or memorize every document you notarized, how do you know it was changed? That's why notaries don't read the documents.

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

In MY State Notaries don't verify the document. They verify the signature. I don't even read the documents!

A falsified signature? Yes, I would report that.

Unless you photocopy or memorize every document you notarized, how do you know it was changed? That's why notaries don't read the documents.

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"Verify" has a specific meaning in this context, as OP or any notary would likey know. It is a recitation as to the truth of the document signed by the person whose signature is notarized. In this sense, it does't have the common meaning you are using.

It looks like OP is saying that the date was changed. A notary sometimes recite, in the "jurat", that it was signed on a certain date, or might attest that it was signed on a date written elsewhere in the document. So changing the date of signing might have the effect of changing the date on which OP said it was signed.

If OP was a paralegal in the law firm, he or she may well have prepared the document as well. That could account for his or her knowledge of what it said when OP notarized it.