Duties of a Notary public? Can and can not do?

They have more power here than in America. More like a old Justice of the peace in America years ago. You can pay fines there,documents stamped like were you live for postal I.D. Have minor disputes settled or go to court above him.Do a marrage. Every area has one. They take care of minor matters. More people here walk than in America. They are the lowest elected official in your city. Your area person to see. For civic matters. They are elected only in the area they represent. Not the whole city. Your neighborhood rep. The man who can see the mayor be at town meetings. For you.

You should be asking this of those who made you a notary public.

Generally speaking, a notary just verifies the signatures of those signing something. They do not vouch for anything regarding the contents. They at most log what the documents appear to be, to facilitate later disputes that may arise about the signatures and the notarization.

No, you would not normally be reviewing matters for fraud. You simply would refuse to notarize documents if somebody signing does not appear to have valid matching ID.

You should get training from the court, and from the state. Details of what a notary can and can not do vary from place to place.

Basically, a notary is certifying that the person who signs a paper is the person who she claims to be. Usually this is done by examining a drivers license or a passport. Some states allow two other people to swear that the signer is who she claims to be. A notary can not certify his own signature, or his families' signature. A notary can not certify somebody else's signature if the notary is a party to whatever is being signed. The signature must be "wet ink", physically signed in front of the notary.

It's not a notary's job to read the CONTENTS of whatever paper is being signed. But it is his job to ask (verbally) if the signer understands the contents and purpose of what she is signing, that the signature is her own, and that she is not under any type of coercion.

There is a recommended formula for the notary to ask: “Do you acknowledge or declare that you understand this document and have signed it voluntarily for the purposes stated in it?”

Some documents will need an oath, and the notary can then ask “Do you swear or affirm under the penalties of perjury, that the information contained in this document is the truth?” Then the notary can sign and stamp below the words (usually pre-printed) “Subscribed [signed] and sworn-to/affirmed before me this (date) day of (month), (year).”

There are lot of other details that a notary must be aware of. That's why you need to take the training course.

Shouldn't you know this?

No, you cannot notarize something you are signing yourself.

The whole point of having something notarized is to add another witness.

Here is the Notary Code - something that would be good to read periodically, and keep a copy around for later:

https://www.nationalnotary.org/file%20library/nna/...