Individuals buying a home, adopting a child, completing estate planning documents such as wills and advanced health care directives, or completing any number of legal procedures may find themselves in ...

A notary public carries a legal commission to witness signatures and, in most states, will place a notary seal on signed documents. Although most official documents do not need notarized signatures, a ...

Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia. Ebony Howard is a certified public accountant and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor tax expert. She ...

Financial Losses: If a document is deemed invalid due to the lack of a notarial certificate, the parties involved may suffer ...