2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 1. General Laws and Definitions › Chapter 5. Proof and Acknowledgment of Instruments Notaries Public › Part 6. Notarial Acts › 1-5-609. Certificate of notarial acts

1-5-609. Certificate of notarial acts.
(1) (a) A notarial act must be evidenced by a certificate completed by a notarial officer.
(b) The certificate must:
(i) be executed contemporaneously with the performance of the notarial act;
(ii) specify the notarial act performed;
(iii) identify the venue as described in 1-5-629;
(iv) identify the name of the principal, the type of record and issuing entity that is copied, or the information the notarial officer has certified under 1-5-603(11);
(v) be signed and dated by the notarial officer. If the notarial officer is a notary public, a clerk of court, a deputy clerk of court, a clerk and recorder, a deputy clerk and recorder, the state registrar, or the authorized agent of the state registrar, the certificate must be signed in the same manner as on file with the secretary of state.
(vi) contain the title of the office of the notarial officer; and
(vii) contain the impression or electronic image of the notary public's official stamp or the notarial officer's seal.
(2) (a) The certificate for a notarial act on a tangible record must be part of or securely affixed to the record.
(b) The certificate for a notarial act on an electronic record must be attached to or logically associated with the record.
(3) A certificate of a remote notarization or remote online notarization must include the information specified in subsection (1)(b), indicate that the notarial act was performed using communication technology, and include any other information required by rule.
(4) A certificate of a notarial act is sufficient if the certificate meets the requirements of subsections (1) through (3) and this subsection and:
(a) is in the short form set forth in 1-5-610;
(b) is in a form otherwise permitted by the law of this state;
(c) is in a form permitted by the laws applicable in the jurisdiction in which the notarial act was performed; or
(d) sets forth the actions of the notarial officer and the actions are sufficient to meet the requirements of the notarial act as provided in 1-5-610, 1-5-616, and this section or of the laws of this state other than specified in this part.
(5) (a) A notary public may subsequently correct any information included on or omitted from a certificate executed by that notary if the change or correction can be evidenced by the information contained in the notary's journal record of the transaction.
(b) A notary public may not change or correct an impression or electronic image of an official stamp but may affix a subsequent impression on a tangible record or attach or logically associate with an electronic record an electronic image of a missing, illegible, or incorrect official stamp.
(c) Any changes or corrections must be dated and initialed by the notary public and a corresponding notation of the changes must be made in the journal record. Only the notary public who performed the notarization may make or authorize a change or correction to a previously completed certificate. If a notary public authorizes a third party to change or correct the information included or omitted on a previously completed certificate, the authorization must be granted in writing and a copy of the message authorizing the change and a copy of the changed certificate must be attached to the notary public's journal record for that transaction.
History: En. Sec. 9, Ch. 192, L. 1993; amd. Sec. 11, Ch. 161, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 9, Ch. 391, L. 2015; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 123, L. 2019.