51-102. DEFINITIONS. As used in this chapter:

(1) "Acknowledgment" means a declaration by an individual before a notarial officer that the individual has signed a record for the purpose stated in the record and, if the record is signed in a representative capacity, that the individual signed the record with proper authority and signed it as the act of the individual or entity identified in the record.

(2) "Electronic" means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic or similar capabilities.

(3) "Electronic signature" means an electronic symbol, sound or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by an individual with the intent to sign the record.

(4) "In a representative capacity" means acting as:

(a) An authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee or other representative for a person that is not an individual;

(b) A public officer, personal representative, guardian or other representative, in the capacity stated in a record;

(c) An agent or attorney in fact for a principal; or

(d) An authorized representative of another in any other capacity.

(5) "Notarial act" means an act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that a notarial officer may perform under the law of this state. The term includes taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification on oath or affirmation, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy, and noting a protest of a negotiable instrument.

(6) "Notarial officer" means a notary public or other individual authorized to perform a notarial act.

(7) "Notary public" means an individual commissioned to perform a notarial act by the secretary of state.

(8) "Official stamp" means a physical image affixed to a tangible record or an electronic image attached to or logically associated with an electronic record.

(9) "Person" means an individual, estate, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality, or any other legal entity.

(10) "Personal appearance" or "appear personally" means the notarial officer is physically close enough to see, hear, communicate with and receive identification documents from the individual seeking notarization and any required witness.

(11) "Record" means information inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(12) "Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record by:

(a) Executing or adopting a tangible symbol; or

(b) Attaching to or logically associating with the record an electronic symbol, sound or process.

(13) "Signature" means a tangible symbol or an electronic signature that evidences the signing of a record.

(14) "Stamping device" means:

(a) A physical device capable of affixing to a tangible record an official stamp; or

(b) An electronic device or process capable of attaching or logically associating an official stamp with an electronic record.

(15) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(16) "Verification on oath or affirmation" means a declaration, made by an individual on oath or affirmation before a notarial officer, that a statement in a record is true.

History:

[51-102, added 2017, ch. 192, sec. 3, p. 441.]