The year 2021 has seen some significant changes in notary laws as remote online notarization (RON) has become increasingly more common due to the pandemic. As a result, on January 1, 2022, we will be updating several state notaries for RON (among other changes). The impacted states are Kansas, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Wyoming.
Kansas
Senate Bill 106 revised the Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (RULONA), including provisions for performing notarial acts for remotely located individuals. All remote online notarized documents require that the short form certificate must include the following language: “This notarial act involved the use of communication technology.” The impacted security instruments are:
- KS Mortgage (Cx325)
- KS Mortgage Second (Cx483)
- HELOC Mortgage – KS (Cx2183)
- FHA KS Mortgage (Cx 19374)
Illinois
The enactment of Senate Bill 2664 requires Illinois notarial officers to apply for a separate Electronic Notary commission, which in Illinois provides authority to perform remote online notarizations. The bill also allows any Notary to perform “remote notarizations” which are understood to be “remote ink notarizations” of the kind authorized in Illinois during the COVID-19 pandemic. All remote online notarized documents should include the insertion of the language “by means of communication technology” into the short form notary block. The impacted security instruments are:
- IL Mortgage (Cx323)
- IL Mortgage Second (Cx481)
- HELOC Mortgage – IL (Cx1357)
- FHA IL Mortgage (Cx19371)
New Jersey
Legislation for New Jersey Assembly 4250 enacts substantive provisions from the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, including provisions for notarizing electronic records and records using NJ Assembly 4250 communication technology for remotely located individuals. New Jersey is the first state to adopt the 2021 amendments to the RULONA that explicitly authorize notarial acts for remotely located individuals on tangible (paper) documents. The new provision also replaces the previous provisions for short forms for notarial acts, and requires the following language for the individual short form notary block:
“This record was acknowledged before me on [DATE] by [INDIVIDUALS].”
The new citation for the revised short forms can be found at N.J. Stat. Ann. § 52:7-10.12. The new requirements also dictate that remote online notarized documents now require that the short form certificate must include the following language: “This notarial act was performed using communication technology.” The impacted security instruments are:
- NJ Mortgage (Cx340)
- NJ Mortgage Second (Cx498)
- HELOC Mortgage – NJ (Cx1359)
- FHA NJ Mortgage (Cx19388)
New Mexico
The New Mexico Secretary of State has published permanent rules to implement the new Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts Administrative rule SB 12 section 5(D), which requires that the short form certificate for RON transactions must include the following language: “This notarial act involved the use of communication technology.” The impacted security instruments are:
- NM Mortgage (Cx341)
- NM Mortgage Second (Cx499)
- HELOC Mortgage – NM (Cx1365)
- FHA NM Mortgage (Cx19389)
South Carolina
In South Carolina, Senate Bill 631 enacts the NNA’s Model Electronic Notarization Act (MENA) in substantive form, authorizing South Carolina Notaries to perform electronic notarial acts. This bill amends S.C. Code § 26-2-60 to include direction for in-person electronic notarization, or IPEN, which requires an electronic notary public to be used. Since electronic notaries are a special designation, when an electronic notary is used the notary signature line will be updated to reflect that it is an “Electronic Notary Public” underneath the notary signature line. The impacted security instruments are:
- SC Mortgage (Cx349)
- SC Mortgage Second (Cx507)
- HELOC Mortgage – SC (Cx1384)
- FHA SC Mortgage (Cx19398)
Wyoming
In Wyoming, Senate File 29 was passed, which enacts the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, provisions for remote notarization, and electronic notarization. This action also updated the notary short forms and updated the previous citation for Uniform Law on Notarial Acts from Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 34-26-108 to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 32-3-115. Furthermore, all remote online notarized documents now require that the short form certificate must append the following language: “The notarial act was performed using an electronic notarization system or other form of communication technology.” The impacted security instruments are:
- WY Mortgage (Cx360)
- WY Mortgage Second (Cx517)
- HELOC Mortgage – WY (Cx1403)
- FHA WY Mortgage (Cx19408)
Multi-state Forms
In addition to the security instruments listed above for each state, there are several documents that can print for any state that also have notary blocks or jurats that needed to be updated with the changes outlined above. These multi-state documents include:
- Compliance Agreement (Cx4)
- Occupancy Statement (Cx15)
- Manufactured Home Affixation Affidavit (Cx43)
- Signature/Name Affidavit (Cx865)
- Loan Modification Agreement – Fixed (Cx1701)
- Loan Modification Agreement – ARM (Cx4888)
- Manufactured Home Limited Power of Attorney (Cx6874)
- Signature/Name Affidavit (NPE) (Cx7965)
- Loan Modification Agreement – ARM (Cx10514)
- Loan Modification Agreement – Fixed (Cx10515)
- HomeStyle Renovation Loan Rider (Cx22294)
- HomeStyle Renovation Loan Agreement (Cx22295)
- FNMA Construction Loan Agreement (Cx22651)
- FNMA Construction Loan Rider to Security Instrument (Cx22653)
- Community Land Trust Ground Lease Rider (Cx23607)
Effective Date
These changes will be in effect on January 1, 2022. If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please contact Client Support at 1.800.497.3584.
TW 372644
DRs 362668, 362638, 362763, 362631, 362692, 362758, 362779
Update: Due to the language changes made to the short form notary blocks in New Jersey and Wyoming, the Assignments for those states have also been modified to more closely adhere to the representative capacity short forms. The NJ Assignment notaries now read:
This record was acknowledged before me on (Date) by (Representative Name) as (Representative Capacity) of (Represented Entity).
The Wyoming notary change consists of changing the word “instrument” to “record”.
The documents impacted are:
- NJ Assignment of Mortgage (Cx1540)
- NJ Assignment from MERS (Cx4336)
- NJ Assignment – INV BLANK (Cx4523)
- WY Assignment of Mortgage (Cx1556)
- WY Assignment from MERS (Cx4356)
- WY Assignment – INV BLANK (Cx4500)
These changes will be available immediately. If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please contact Client Support at 1.800.497.3584.
DR 364251