How Notaries protect the public
A notary is an appointed position by the Secretary of State’s office in a given state. Like many public officials, the State specifies that the person get a surety or notary bond before receiving the commission. This bond “makes sure” that if the official violates the public trust through neglect of their responsibilities, finances are set aside to indemnify the State for its loss.
The primary duty of notaries public is to validate that the individual parties to a contract are who they claim to be. The State may experience a loss if the notary neglects to properly validate the identity of the parties.
As a public official, the notary causes harm to the public trust by failing in their responsibility to confirm identity. If an Arizona notary public doesn’t confirm identity and a loss occurs, an injured party can file a claim against that State for its loss, because the State was negligent through its appointed representative.
A surety bond is a guarantee of payment to the obligee (the State) when losses occur for a penalty amount of the bond. Notary Public bonds are often provided by a surety company (typically an insurance carrier). The bond usually runs concurrently with the period of a notary’s commission.
You may be familiar with a homeowners insurance policy. If a person has an Indiana home insurance loss, the insurance company pays the claim and writes off the loss. You aren’t required to reimburse the company for the loss. Unlike a homeowners insurance policy however, a notary bond is simply a guarantee that the finances will be available if losses occur. The surety (insurance company) pays the State up to the penalty amount of the bond. However, this claim paid by the carrier is not simply written off. The carrier will most likely seek reimbursement from the bonded party, the notary themself.
A notary bond protects the public. Who protects the notary? Insurance coverage is available to provide this protection – it’s called Notary Public Errors and Omissions and can also be purchased for a nominal fee from insurance carriers.
This entry was posted on Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at 6:08 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.