Mo. Rev. Stat. § 486.600

Current with changes from the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 486.600 - Definitions

As used in this chapter, the following terms and phrases mean:

(1)"Acknowledgment", a notarial act in which an individual at a single time and place:

(a) Appears in person before the notary and presents a document;

(b) Is personally known to the notary or identified by the notary through satisfactory evidence; and

(c) Indicates to the notary that the signature on the document was voluntarily affixed by the individual for the purposes stated within the document and, if applicable, that the individual had due authority to sign in a particular representative capacity;

(2)"Affirmation", a notarial act, or part thereof, that is legally equivalent to an oath and in which an individual at a single time and place:

(a) Appears in person before the notary;

(b) Is personally known to the notary or identified by the notary through satisfactory evidence; and

(c) Makes a vow of truthfulness or fidelity on penalty of perjury, based on personal honor and without invoking a deity or using any form of the word "swear";

(3)"Commission", both the granting of authority to perform notarial acts and the written evidence of the granting of authority to perform such acts;

(4)"Copy certification", a notarial act in which a notary:

(a) Locates or is presented with a paper or an electronic document that is not a vital record, a public record, or a recorded document;

(b) Compares the document with a second paper or electronic document that is:

a. Presented to the notary;

b. Located by the notary; or

c. Copied from the first document by the notary; and

(c) Confirms through a visual or electronic comparison that the second document is an identical, exact, and complete copy of the image or text and, if applicable, metadata of the first document;

(5)"County", any of the several counties of this state or the City of St. Louis;

(6)"County clerk", any of the several county clerks of this state or the clerk of the circuit court in the City of St. Louis;

(7)"Credible witness", an honest, reliable, and impartial person who personally knows an individual appearing before a notary and takes an oath or affirmation from the notary to vouch for that individual's identity;

(8)"Journal of notarial acts" and "journal", a permanently bound book to create and preserve a chronological record of notarizations that is maintained by the notary public who performed the same notarizations;

(9)"Jurat", a notarial act in which an individual at a single time and place:

(a) Appears in person before the notary and presents a document;

(b) Is personally known to the notary or identified by the notary through satisfactory evidence;

(c) Signs the document in the presence of the notary; and

(d) Takes an oath or affirmation from the notary vouching for the truthfulness or accuracy of the signed document;

(10)"Notarial act" and "notarization", any official act of certification, attestation, or administration that a notary public is empowered to perform pursuant to this chapter;

(11)"Notarial certificate" and "certificate", the part of, or attachment to, a notarized document that, in the performance of the notarization, is completed by the notary, bears the notary's official signature and seal, and states the date, venue, and facts attested by the notary in the particular notarial act;

(12)"Notary public" and "notary", any person commissioned to perform notarial acts pursuant to this chapter;

(13)"Oath", a notarial act, or part thereof, that is legally equivalent to an affirmation and in which an individual at a single time and place:

(a) Appears in person before the notary;

(b) Is personally known to the notary or identified by the notary through satisfactory evidence; and

(c) Makes a vow of truthfulness or fidelity on penalty of perjury while invoking a deity or using any form of the word "swear";

(14)"Official misconduct":

(a) A notary's performance of any act prohibited, or failure to perform any act or duty mandated, by this chapter or by any other law in connection with a notarial act; or

(b) A notary's performance of an official act or duty in a manner that is negligent, contrary to established norms of sound notarial practice, or against the public interest;

(15)"Official seal":

(a) A device authorized by the secretary for affixing on a paper notarial certificate an image containing a notary's name, title, jurisdiction, commission expiration date, and other information related to the notary's commission; or

(b) The affixed image itself;

(16)"Official signature", a handwritten signature made by a notary that uses the exact name appearing in the notary's commission and is signed with the intent to perform a notarial act;

(17)"Personal knowledge of identity" and "personally knows", familiarity with an individual resulting from interactions with that individual over a period of time sufficient to dispel any reasonable uncertainty that the individual has the identity claimed;

(18)"Principal":

(a) A person whose signature is notarized; or

(b) A person, other than a credible witness, taking an oath or affirmation from the notary;

(19)"Regular place of work or business", a stationary office or workspace where one spends all or some of one's working or business hours;

(20)"Requester of fact", a person who asks the notary public to perform a copy certification;

(21)"Satisfactory evidence", evidence of identification of an individual based on:

(a) At least one current document issued by a federal, state, or tribal government in a language understood by the notary and bearing the photographic image of the individual's face and signature and a physical description of the individual, or a properly stamped passport without a physical description; or

(b) The oath or affirmation of one credible witness disinterested in the document or transaction who is personally known to the notary and who personally knows the individual, or of two credible witnesses disinterested in the document or transaction who each personally knows the individual and shows to the notary documentary identification as described in paragraph (a) of this subdivision;

(22)"Secretary", the secretary of state for the state of Missouri;

(23)"Signature witnessing", a notarial act in which an individual at a single time and place:

(a) Appears in person before the notary and presents a document;

(b) Is personally known to the notary or identified by the notary through satisfactory evidence; and

(c) Signs the document in the presence of the notary.

§ 486.600, RSMo

Added by 2020 Mo. Laws, HB 1655,s A, eff. 8/28/2020.