Why Can’t You Answer My Question?
More than half of the phone calls we receive involve the caller asking us a legal question, and often gets upset when we can’t answer their question. We’ve received bad online reviews because “They don’t know anything about the law!”
Do you call a fast food restaurant when you think you’re having a heart attack?
Do you call the hospital when your transmission is running rough?
Do you call a plumber to fix your internet connection?
Why not?
It doesn’t make sense to ask someone an important question when the person you are asking is not an expert in or trained in the topic you are asking. Calling a notary public to ask a legal question is no different. Not only are we not trained in the law*, we are specifically prohibited from giving legal advice.
So why would you call a notary public for a legal question?
A notary public is not a “cheap attorney” or “sort of like a lawyer”. Unless a notary public happens to also be an attorney, we have no legal training. Our purpose is to identify signers of a document to prevent fraud and to issue oaths. To compare a notary public to an attorney is like comparing a neurosurgeon to the parking attendant at a hospital- they both work at a medical facility, but they have completely different training and completely different jobs.
A notary does two things, and two things only:
1. Identify the signer of a document by looking at the signer’s government issued photo ID (or in special cases other identifying criteria) and make sure they are reasonably mentally capable of understanding what they are signing and are doing so of their own free will. This does not require legal training.
2. Issue oaths. We read or recite a statement and you respond with “Yes” or “No”.
That’s it. That’s all our job is. That is the full extent of what we do.
Anyone without a criminal background, who is of legal age and is approved by the Secretary of State can be a notary public (In TN at least). There is absolutely no requirement that a notary public receives any legal training. Unless a notary public happens to also be a licensed attorney, the notary cannot give legal advice otherwise we would be guilty of practicing law without a license. While it is true that we notarize a lot of legal documents, we are not concerned with the content of those documents. We are only concerned with recording a brief description or title of your document and the signer’s name, contact information and type of ID used to verify the signer’s identity.
If you have legal questions or questions related to filling out your documents, you need to consult an attorney or the person or agency that is requesting the document. A notary public does not have the answers* nor can we provide any legal advice*.
Car title question? Call the tag and title office
Estate, Will, Inheritance question? Call an estate attorney
Power of Attorney for a bank account? Call the bank
How to cook a Thanksgiving turkey? Butterball has a thanksgiving hotline- 1-800-BUTTERBALL (seriously)
Want to know where my office is located, what my hours are and what my fee is? Call 423-708-5662 🙂
*Unless the notary public is also a licensed attorney