A notary public is an officer commissioned by the Michigan Secretary of State to serve as an unbiased and impartial witness on business, public and other documents. The most common function of the notary is to prevent fraud by attesting to the identity of a person signing a document. A notarization on a document certifies that the person whose signature is entered on the document personally appeared before the notary, established their identity, and personally signed the document in the presence of the notary.

• Always require document signers to appear before you at the time of notarization.
• Positively identify all document signers.