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A
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Notary
By David A. Shean, CSEO, CEI
The
Seller for one of my escrows came in for her 1:00 pm notary appointment.
She had already signed everything else, she was just very uncomfortable
with giving me the executed Grant Deed until the Buyer’s and the
Lender’s money was deposited into escrow and we were really ready to
close.
I
asked for and received her California Driver License was confronted with
the following problem:
She
had a brand new California Driver License. The sequential Identification
number was fine. The picture looked like her, the name and address
information was correct. The
physical description was relatively accurate (we never lie about weight -
do we?). The term was fine (effective 1-1-2004 the California DMV now
issues 5 year original licenses and 5 years for renewals). The expiration
date was on the anniversary of her birth date. There was however, one
problem. The signature area was on its face blocked out and looked like a
big black rectangle.
The
Seller indicated that she had just received this new license and was told
that due to the significant concern for privacy this is how the new
California Licenses were being issued.
She indicated that the signature was apparently able to be viewed
by passing the Driver License under a portable hand scanner.
Needles
to say there was immediate silence in the signing room as I gathered my
thoughts and tried to determine what to do. The Seller could see that I
was concerned and perplexed about the situation.
I tried to explain the duties and obligations of a notary and what
I knew to be acceptable documentation for notary purposes.
At
this point the Seller indicated that she did have her old Driver License,
which expired last month and would that help? With a big sigh of relief, I
thankfully said yes. She presented her old identification and I happily
completed my notary function and she went on her merry way.
Never
to let sleeping dogs lie, I then set out to determine if the State was
going into the Hand Scanner business in an attempt to help offset their
budget problems and this was going to be a common occurrence or if this
was merely an anomaly.
I
called the DMV and could not get through. I called the publisher of the
I.D. Checking Guide and asked them (since I had just received the 2005
Updated version of their reference book). They did not know anything about
this. They said they would
check it out and call me back.
I
called the Auto Club ~ DVM section and decided the 30+/- minute wait was
not worth it. I again and again and again called the DMV and finally got
through to a human being and after punching the correct buttons to speak
to a live English speaking person. Then, after transferring to several
different departments, I ended up with a very delightful woman in the
Issuance Department who gave the following explanation:
The
DMV is not selling scanners. The referenced California Driver License
should never have gone out to the recipient.
They have quality control people who are supposed to be checking
all of the various legally required sections of the Driver License and
reject any Driver Licenses with any problem sections.
The referenced license was not valid and the holder should be
instructed to return it to her local DMV location where they would punch a
hole in it and process (hopefully for free) a new California Driver
License so be sent to her is about 3-4 weeks.
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