In Tennessee, a Notary is a position created by state law allowing individuals, as state public officials, to:

• Acknowledge signatures upon personal knowledge or satisfactory proof
• Administer oaths
• Record and/or transcribe depositions
• Confirm the authenticity of signatures on affidavits.

A Mobile Notary is a Notary who travels to the location of the signer.

Superior Choice Notary comes to your home, office, or other agreed upon location at your convenience, giving you the benefit of scheduling around your schedule, including evenings and weekends.

A notary loan signing agent is a notary public that notarizes loan documents and accurately walks a signer through the loan documents received from a lender, title company, escrow office, or signing service. 

To deter fraud. Having a notary serve as an third-party witness ensures that the signers of a document are who they say they are, that they signed the document under their own free will, and that the signer is aware of what is taking place.  

Notarization does not guarantee that the information on a document is accurate or legal. The signer is responsible for the content of the document.  Notarizing a document only validates that the signer personally appeared in front of the notary and subscribed or affirmed to the truthfulness of the document.  The Notary Public has no authorization to state that a document is official , true, or correct.

The individual or company requesting that your signature be notarized, will usually determine which notarial act is used.

A Notary Public may provide an Acknowledgement or Jurat, but cannot choose which notarial act is to be executed.

If your document does not have notarial verbiage attached, check with the custodian of the document for their preference.   

All notarial acts require you to meet with the Notary in person and provide proper identfication. 

The following is a brief description of both types of notarial acts:

Jurat:  

A notorial act that certifies the signer appeared personally before the Notary and was positively identified.  It also certifies that the Notary witnessed the signer sign the document at the time of notarization, and that the Notary administered an oath or affirmation to the signer. 

Acknowledgment:

A notorial act that certifies the signer appeared personally before the Notary, was positively identified, and acknowledged to the Notary that the signature was made freely for the purpose stated in the document. 

Yes, the signer(s) must be in the presence of Notary at the time the signature is notarized.

In Tennessee, a Notary must confirm the identity of a signer using one of 4 types of Identification:

• A Driver License issued by the TN Department of Safety
• A State-Issued I.D. card issued by the TN Department of Safety 
• A Military I.D. card; or
• A Passport issued by the U.S. Department of State

To be valid and acceptable, the I.D. has to meet the 4 criteria below:

• Current (not expired) OR it has to have been issued within the past 5 years. 
• Contain a photo and physical description of the person named. 
• Bear a signature of the person
• Bear a serial or other identifying number

In addition, the name on your I.D. has to match the name on the document that you are signing. It is okay if your I.D. shows more of your name than the document, just not less and not conflicting. 

If you do not have one of these 4 forms of I.D. or if your I.D. has expired, then the Notary has to already know you personally (well enough to vouch for your identity) or you have to bring along a Credible Witness.

A Credible Witness is someone who personally knows BOTH the Notary & whoever is signing the document and who is willing to come to the signing in person to swear to the Notary that the signer(s) are who they say they are.

A Credible Witness establishes a chain of personal knowledge from the Notary to the signer effectively serving as a walking, talking ID card.

Use of a credible witness is uncommon because the requirement that they personally know both the Notary and the signer(s) of the document limits who can fulfill this requirement.

All documents to be notarized must be complete with no blank lines or spaces for data to be entered at a later date. Any blank lines or spaces will need to be filled in prior to notarization.

A notarization can be refused if: 

• The notary cannot verify the identity of the signer;
• The notary has a beneficial or financial interest in the document;
• The notary is unable to communicate with the signer (person is not competent to sign);
• The notary has knowledge that the transaction is fraudulent;
• The signer did not personally appear before the notary at the time of the notarization;
• The document contains blank or incomplete spaces;

Superior Choice notarizes a wide range of documents. Please take a look at our Services page where most documents are listed. If you don’t see your document listed, don’t worry, it’s only a partial list. Please contact us for questions.  

We currently serve Memphis, Cordova, Bartlett,  Arlington, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland, Millington, and all parts of Shelby County, Tennessee.  We will also travel to other surrounding counties for an additional charge based on mileage.  

Superior Choice offers flexible scheduling options. This includes, but isn't limited to appointments after 6:00p.m., weekends, and holidays. Call or text us to schedule an appointment at (901) 443-3708 or email us at contact@superiorchoicenotary.com.  

The standard notary fee for Superior Choice services is $15 per notarial act/signature.  

 In addition to the standard notary fee, a mobile service convenience fee of $25 is added for clients within Shelby County.  For clients in other surrounding counties within a reasonable distance, the mobile service convenience fee may be increased based on mileage.   

 All fees are due at the time of service.  We accept, cash, cashier's check, or money order. You may also pay via CashApp.    

Superior Choice provides mobile notary service.  We do not maintain an office for walk-in clients, so we do require appointments.

Please call or text us ar (901) 443-3708 or email us at Contact@superiorchoicenotary.com to schedule  an appointment.  We look forward to doing business with you.  

Public locations are fine.  As a mobile notary, we come to your home, office, local coffee shop, library, or other agreed upon location that is convenient for you.

To prepare for your appointment: 

• DO NOT SIGN any document(s) until you are in the presence of the notary.  
• COMPLETELY fill in all blank spaces of the document before the notary arrives.  We CANNOT notarize incomplete documents.
• Know what type of notarial certificate you need.  If you have questions about how to complete the document, contact the person who drafted or requested the document from you.  A Notary Public cannot provide legal advice or assistance.  
• Every signer must be physically present, coherent, and present proper I.D. at the time of the notarization.   
• Please familiarize yourself with the document(s) to be signed before scheduling an appointment with a Notary.  

If you are scheduling a notarization for a family member or friend, please do not wait for the appointment time to present the document to the signer for the first time. The signer should be given an opportunity to read and understand the document(s) prior to the appointment. The appointment time is for the execution and notarization of the document(s).

The Notary is at the signing to identify signers and notarize their signatures, not to explain documents. Notaries are not qualified to give legal advice or to determine whether a particular document meets the needs of the parties involved.

We will schedule with you, an appropriate amount of time for signings depending on your particular document(s). Anyone signing, including Witnesses, must be on time for the appointment and have proper ID with them. The Notary cannot wait beyond the scheduled time limit.