Kenneth Edelstein's (edelske) Blog

An Absurd Forgery of “my” Notarization I have just been speaking with an insurance company investigator. When the caller identified themselves I took the precaution of verifying the caller via several methods. Once convinced of the caller identity the facts were relayed to me. I then proved the d...

Everyone including Notaries: Beware of catching “OPP”Recent reports on this and other notary “gathering places” indicate a dramatic increase in the spread of OPP. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (or CDC) has researched this phenomenon; and reported truly starting virulence. To thei...

One has to be careful when changing the venue, there can be unpredictable side effects. I was notarizing a deed for a client. The preprinted values were for some (forgotten by me) county in Montana. Naturally the state given was Montana too.I neatly redacted both State and County; drawing a thin ...

24x7 365 day Notary Service Defined     Many who advertise 24x7-365 have an answering machine which often directs you to call some other number - often, especially late at night; you get another answering machine. Worse still, both of the answering machines give a "sales pitch" - and claim "someo...

You DON’T go to Notarize name contractionsMany notaries have lost sight of their primary responsibility, and feel it is their primary mission to go to the assignment to notarize the signatures. This is not the case. The primary mission is to determine if the documents / IDs – qualify for notariza...

Signing Agent & The Seven Dwarfs LOsThere is much to be learned from the Disney classic “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. While I have had no experience as a notary with Snow White; I have worked with LOs that classify easily into the latter. Covered in no particular order by http://kenneth-a-ed...

Sitting on a one legged stool?It’s kinda rough to sit on a stool that has only one leg. No doubt about it. If you are a “Signing Agent Only!”, and that is your sole revenue source – you sit on a one legged stool. There is no telling which way you will fall; forward, backward, left or right. At be...

A Lesson from the Barnyard It was a mild spring morning and the little pony decided to visit other areas of the barnyard.  All winter the pony was in the corral listening to horse talk. It was time to make some new friends. The first stop was to the pig pen, and that resulted in the first shock o...

ID – A growing problemConfirming the identity of the affiant is a complex issue. Notary laws regarding ID requirements vary by state. Some states are very specific and have a list of what constitutes proper ID. They may or may not permit the use of a substantiating witness. I am not aware of any ...

Feedback BlackmailA little background. A few months ago while shopping on one of my supply sites – I noticed a major change to their home page. The entire home page was now devoted to the story of their recent and only “negative” feedback, breaking a 20 year spotless record. In summary; they sent...