[WSBAPT] If a public notary prints their name, but does not sign their name, is that notary certification valid?

[Andrekita Silva]

Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

June 19, 2026

Thank you all for your responses.
I believe the statute clearly requires a signature.

As Eric noted, it doesn't matter how or what a person signs, as long as 
it's that person's "signature."
And as Joshua points out, it must be signed as the signature appears on 
his application which is on file with the State.

At Melody's suggestion, I looked up this guy up on the State's website. 
There is no access to his application (I assume this could be secured if 
necessary for some process.) However, it looks like this guy became a 
notary for the very first time on March 23 !!  I'm thinking my client 
may have been this guy's first client and he choked...

I asked my client to go get the revocation certified by someone else.
Totally out of curiousity, I might email to Dept. of Licensing and ask 
if they'll send me a copy of this guys signature.

Thanks again all!

Andrekita Silva
Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 940
Seattle, Washington 98101-2509
206-224-8288
ak at seattle-silvalaw.com

On 2026/06/19 08:17 AM, Joshua McKarcher wrote:

> Erick,
> 
> I agree with you about the common law signature, but I'm fairly
> certain if you get into the weeds of the notary public statutes and
> regulations and even the forms, it is a requirement (in each of Idaho
> and Washington) that a notary use the signature that they provide as
> the document or sample on their application.
> 
> For example, my application recites my full legal name as Joshua
> David McKarcher for purposes of first identifying me as a human being.
> 
> But then my notary NAME and SIGNATURE is only Joshua McKarcher. I
> must order my stamp to read THAT name, and I have to provide an
> exemplar of my notary signature in a box.
> 
> It is the case actually that if I suddenly began signing my name,
> _Joshua David McKarcher_, those notarial acts would become notorious
> (by which I mean naughty even if I'm behaving loosely with the
> meanings of words)!!!
> 
> The _Joshua David McKarcher _signatures would be noncompliant under
> the rules and regulations because that's not what is on file with the
> state or represented on my stamp.
> 
> (Of course the stamp name is irrelevant for signatures that look like
> line drawings of a person who can't be bothered. Then only the line
> drawing must match the signature on file with the state. )
> 
> There are saving regulations that say things like the instrument is
> not automatically invalid (void) only for these technical reasons. But
> that does not mean the act is not voidable and that someone could not
> challenge the act as invalid because it is noncompliant if they cared
> enough to obtain a court order to that effect.
> 
> Please forgive me for this email. Happy Friday! Best, Josh
> 
> Joshua McKarcher
> 
> _Attorney, Owner_
> McKarcher Law PLLC
> o: (509) 758-3345
> josh at mckarcherlaw.com
> 
> -------------------------
> 
> From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com
> <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> on behalf of Eric Nelsen
> <eric at sayrelawoffices.com>
> Sent: Thursday, 18 June 2026 09:11:06
> To: ak at seattle-silvalaw.com <ak at seattle-silvalaw.com>; WSBA Probate &
> Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
> Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] If a public notary prints their name, but does
> not sign their name, is that notary certification valid?
> 
> Under common law a "signature" can be any kind of mark. It's
> even allowable, for example, to sign "John Smith" as my
> idiosyncratic way of signing "Eric Nelsen." The purpose of a
> signature is both instrumental (part of the act of notarizing) and
> evidentiary (notary was there and it was truly the notary and not
> somebody else). Any mark can meet both purposes.
> 
> Marks that don't bear some relationship to what people would expect
> to see as a signature, impairs the evidentiary function. Which is my
> longwinded and pompous way of agreeing with Melody--the problem
> isn't that the printed signature is invalid, but that third parties
> might be inclined to distrust it.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Eric
> 
> Eric C. Nelsen
> 
> Sayre Law Offices, PLLC
> 
> 1417 31st Ave South
> 
> Seattle WA 98144-3909
> 
> 206-625-0092
> 
> eric at sayrelawoffices.com
> 
> From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com
> <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Andrekita Silva
> Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2026 12:52 AM
> To: wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com
> Subject: [WSBAPT] If a public notary prints their name, but does not
> sign their name, is that notary certification valid?
> 
> Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
> ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> June 18, 2026
> 
> Listserve,
> 
> If a public notary prints his name, is that notary certification
> valid?
> 
> RCW 42.45.130 says the certificate must be "signed and dated" in the
> same manner as is on file with the state.
> 
> A client gave me a revocation to record. But, his name looks 100%
> printed. Some people tell me that my signature looks like I've
> printed, but it really is my cursive signature. I could not find a
> phone number for the notary to ask him if that is his signature or if
> he actually only printed his name and forgot to provide his signature.
> I've emailed to my client to ask for this guy's phone number. I'm
> going to try to check with this guy to see if that's his signature or
> if he printed.
> 
> But, what do you all think?  Will this revocation need to be
> re-executed?
> 
> Andrekita Silva
> Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
> 1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 940
> Seattle, Washington 98101-2509
> 206-224-8288
> ak at seattle-silvalaw.com
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