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

Mon Jun 22 09:55:41 PDT 2026

Andrekita has the answer for her purposes...but I went down a rabbit hole.

I didn’t know about the additional requirement for a notary signature—the notary requirement is at RCW 42.45.130(1)(b)<https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=42.45.130> and WAC 308-30-100<https://app.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=308-30&full=true#308-30-100>. Has to be signed “in the same manner as on file with the department” and “using the exact name that appears on the notary’s certificate of commission and their seal or stamp.”

For practical purposes I can see that having a mismatch of the notary signature might cause a problem. But I question whether it could make the notarial act voidable. The cases tend to be strict about presence of the notary’s seal if an instrument conveying real property is involved, and of course the language of the notary’s certificate itself is critical in determining if it’s a proper acknowledgment or an oath or whatever; but with those caveats, minor defects in the notary’s formalities as written onto the document do not appear to invalidate the notarial act so long as there is proof that the notary did in fact perform their proper functions of verifying the identity of the signer and so forth.

Compare:
State v. Epstein, 138 Wash. 118 (1926), requiring dismissal of a criminal charge of perjury because the false instrument’s notary block was missing its seal, and therefore it wasn’t under oath under penalty of perjury

Melovitch v. City of Tacoma, 135 Wash. 533 (1925), upholding validity of claim filed with City of Tacoma statute required that the claim must be verified under oath), where notary seal was missing but the claim was otherwise properly and timely filed and parol evidence was provided showing that the notarial acts had otherwise been correctly followed

Ben Holt Industries, Inc. v. Milne, 36 Wn.App. 468 (1984), confirming signature of corporation landlord’s president and secretary that were acknowledged in individual capacity instead of representative capacity were fatally defective BUT the lease was upheld nevertheless based on part performance, stating, “The parties intended to create a lease. There is no uncertainty inherent here. Allowing a technical flaw in the acknowledgment to invalidate the lease does not prevent fraud or uncertainty, rather, it enhances 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<mailto:eric at sayrelawoffices.com>

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Andrekita Silva
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2026 3:30 PM
To: Joshua McKarcher <josh at mckarcherlaw.com>
Cc: 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?

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<mailto: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<mailto:josh at mckarcherlaw.com>

-------------------------

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com>
<wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com>> on behalf of Eric Nelsen
<eric at sayrelawoffices.com<mailto:eric at sayrelawoffices.com>>
Sent: Thursday, 18 June 2026 09:11:06
To: ak at seattle-silvalaw.com<mailto:ak at seattle-silvalaw.com> <ak at seattle-silvalaw.com<mailto:ak at seattle-silvalaw.com>>; WSBA Probate &
Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto: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<mailto:eric at sayrelawoffices.com>

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com>
<wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto: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<mailto: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<mailto:ak at seattle-silvalaw.com>
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