Oklahoma Notaries play a key role in finalizing many Oklahoma documents such as last wills and testaments, powers of attorney, deeds and real estate purchase contracts to name only a few examples.
The Oklahoma Notary provides the certification that the person who signed the document is indeed that person. An Oklahoma Notary Public is handy to have in most law offices and many business offices to notarize the signatures required by legal documents.
With the notary seal being so helpful, you might imagine there may be some issues created by a notary’s helpfulness and convenience. One of those issues is whether an Oklahoma Notary Public can notarize the signature of a relative. My instinct on this one, before researching the question, was that “no” a notary cannot notarize a relative’s signature, the same as a witness to a last will and testament cannot be related to the person making the last will and testament. And, my instinct was mostly wrong.
According to the Oklahoma Secretary of State Oklahoma law allows a notary to notarize a relative’s signature:
A notary is an impartial witness. The law does not forbid notaries from notarizing the signatures of relatives. However, if the notarized document was ever the subject of a court suit, a judge might determine the notary was not an impartial witness.
With that in mind, my thought is that if there is someone else that can provide the notary seal for a relative, by all means, do not use the related notary to notarize a relative’s signature.
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