Maryland Notary Practice Exam

Notaries must avoid any appearance of bias by not notarizing for immediate family members. Handling a notarization for a relative can create a real or perceived conflict of interest, which undermines the notary’s duty to be impartial and can lead to questions about the validity of the notarization. The safest and proper course is to decline the notarization for an immediate family member and suggest that the signer use a neutral, unrelated notary. Options that involve heightened scrutiny, having a colleague notarize anyway, or adding a witness do not resolve the conflict of interest and do not replace the need for impartiality.