Is It Legal Or Ethical??
Is it legal or ethical, for instance i plan to start a s corporation within the next few weeks. I plan to use my wife as a mobile notary, but also she will be listed as an officer or director of our s corp. Will she be able to notarize documents pertaining to real estate. The real question is will she be considered having an interest in the company and notarizing documents for the company. The S corp will be for subj to investing and assigning contracts, rehabbing etc. Thank you for all replies.
Good question, and the answer is don't use your W as notary in your deals, or your co's deals.
Could possibly, barely, maybe, be legal on your co's deals, but doing so leaves you wide open to claims of collusion, fraud, etc., .so you're MUCH safer NOT doing so.
Imagine her on the witness stand defending how independent and neutral she is & was...if I were the enemy lawyer, attacking the contract under any pretext at all, I'd love a deal like this and I'd have you both squirming in state of embarrassment and a jury getting indignant over the whole "rotten" deal.
"What nerve...the guy used his own wife as Notary, and now claims the whole thing was fair and square and on the up'n'up! How do we know Ms. Smith even signed the agreement? Or if she did, that she really understood it?"
Doing so on your personal deals would absolutely and completely void, vitiate & nullify those deals, whatever they were...and no title insurance co. would insure your title or let you close on such if they were to catch the name or relationship of the NP.
Even if she is not part of the corp, the sig will not count in many states (cali). WIFE
All in all, it is a bad idea. I woul hook up with a traveling notary, or even better, I have a guy tht sits in his tax planning office all day. I just pop in and havm sign. $10.00 for the whole thing 2-4-or 6 pages. He doesn't really care.
[addsig]