What is a credible witness?
A credible witness is an individual who is personally known to the notary and who personally knows the signer, and who is willing to attest to the signer’s identity. A credible witness may be used in a case where the signer has no acceptable identification. A credible witness must be present during the notarization.
When a signer is unable to present proper identification, the signer may be identified on the oath or affirmation of one or two credible witnesses who can present valid ID. If there is only one credible identifying witness, the witness must be personally known by the Notary (uncommon), otherwise two credible identifying witnesses are required. In either case, each witness must swear or affirm that the following is true: The document signer appearing before the Notary is the person named in the document. The document signer is personally known to the witness. The witness believes that it would be difficult or impossible for the document signer to obtain acceptable identification. The document signer does not have any acceptable identification. That the witness has no financial or beneficial interest in the document and is not named in the document.
A credible witness is an individual who is personally known to the notary and who personally knows the signer, and who is willing to attest to the signer’s identity. A credible witness may be used in a case where the signer has no acceptable identification. A credible witness must be present during the notarization.
