3.4 Oaths, Affirmations & Other Acts

Oaths, Affirmations, and Other Notarial Acts

Three remaining acts round out a Utah notary's authority: oaths/affirmations, signature witnessing, and copy certification. Each is narrow, and the exam loves the boundaries — especially what a copy certification may and may not cover.

Oaths and Affirmations

Definition (46-1-2): an oath or affirmation is a notarial act in which the notary certifies that a person made a vow or affirmation, in the notary's presence, on penalty of perjury. Unlike a jurat, no document is required — an oath can be purely verbal.

Standalone oaths arise when, for example, the notary swears in a witness before a deposition, administers an oath of office, or places a person under oath to give verbal testimony. The notary must ensure the person understands that a false statement exposes them to perjury liability. The notary still confirms the person's identity and journals the act.

Signature Witnessing

Signature witnessing certifies that a signer, whose identity is verified, signed a document in the notary's presence. There is no oath and the notary makes no statement about the truth of the contents — only that the signing occurred.

The practical use is a document that needs proof the right person signed it live, but no sworn statement — for example, certain banking or transfer forms.

Copy Certification

Definition (46-1-2): a notarial act certifying that a photocopy is an accurate copy of a document that is neither a public record nor publicly recorded. The notary compares the copy to the original and attests they match.

What CAN be certified

• Diplomas, transcripts, and academic certificates
• Privately held contracts, corporate minutes, and bylaws
• A signer's passport or driver license (a copy, not the vital record behind it)

What CANNOT be certified

Trap: A signer asks you to certify a copy of their birth certificate for an embassy. You must decline — vital records are certified only by the issuing vital-records office, never by a notary. Steer them to the Utah Office of Vital Records and Statistics.

Procedure

1. Signer presents the original non-public document.
2. The notary makes or reviews the photocopy.
3. The notary compares the copy page-by-page to the original.
4. The notary completes the copy-certification certificate, affixes seal/signature, journals it, and returns the original.

Fee Summary (Utah Code 46-1-12)

Distinguishing the Three Witnessed Acts

Students routinely confuse signature witnessing, jurats, and acknowledgments because all three can involve a person signing in front of the notary. The fastest way to separate them is to ask two questions: Is there an oath? and Could the document have been pre-signed? A jurat answers yes-oath and no-pre-signing. Signature witnessing answers no-oath and no-pre-signing. An acknowledgment answers no-oath and yes-pre-signing. Only the jurat makes any claim about the truth of the contents; the other two say nothing about whether the document is accurate.

Copy Certification Limits in Practice

The "neither a public record nor publicly recorded" rule exists because public agencies maintain official certified-copy procedures of their own, and allowing notaries to duplicate them would undermine the chain of authenticity. When a requester insists, the correct script is: "I can't certify a copy of a vital or recorded record, but the issuing office can provide a certified copy." If the underlying document is a private record, the notary must work from the original in hand — certifying a copy of a copy is not permitted, because the notary cannot vouch that an intermediate copy was faithful.

Standalone Oath Scenarios

For a standalone oath, there is no certificate attached to a document; the notary still records the person's name, date, identity method, and the fact that an oath was administered in the journal.

On the Exam

• Oath vs. affirmation: same legal effect; affirmation never mentions a deity.
• Two questions separate witnessed acts: oath? and pre-signing allowed?
• Signature witnessing: witnessed signing, no oath, no statement on contents.
• Copy certification: non-public, non-recorded only — never birth/death/marriage certificates, recorded deeds, or court records; work from the original, not a copy of a copy.