34-26-101. Short title; definitions; acknowledgements.

(a) This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Wyoming Uniform Law on Notarial Acts".

(b) As used in this act:

(i) "Acknowledgment" means a declaration by a person that the person has freely and voluntarily executed an instrument for the purposes stated therein and, if the instrument is executed in a representative capacity, that the person signed the instrument with proper authority and executed it as the act of the person or entity represented and identified therein and that the person acknowledges that the instrument was executed and acknowledged freely and voluntarily;

(ii) In a "representative capacity" means:

(A) For and on behalf of a corporation, partnership, trust or other entity, as an authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee or other representative;

(B) As a public officer, personal representative, guardian or other representative, in the capacity recited in the instrument;

(C) As an attorney in fact for a principal; or

(D) In any other capacity as an authorized representative of another.

(iii) "Notarial act," "notarize" and "notarization" mean:

(A) Taking an acknowledgment;

(B) Administering an oath or affirmation;

(C) Taking a verification upon oath or affirmation;

(D) Witnessing or attesting a signature;

(E) Certifying or attesting a copy;

(F) Noting a protest of a negotiable instrument;

(G) Performing a jurat; and

(H) Performing other acts so authorized by the laws of this state.

(iv) "Notarial officer" means any person authorized to perform notarial acts under W.S. 34-26-103 and includes persons commissioned as notaries public under W.S. 32-1-101 through 32-1-109;

(v) "Verification upon oath or affirmation" means a declaration that a statement is true made by a person upon oath or affirmation;

(vi) Repealed By Laws 2011, Ch. 113, § 3.

(vii) "Affirmation" means a notarial act, or part thereof, which is legally equivalent to an oath and in which an individual at a single time and place:

(A) Is personally known to the notarial officer or identified by the notarial officer through satisfactory evidence; and

(B) Makes a vow of truthfulness or fidelity on penalty of perjury, based on personal honor and without invoking a deity or using any form of the word "swear".

(viii) "Commission" means both to empower to perform notarial acts and the written evidence of authority to perform those acts;

(ix) "Commissioned notarial officer" means a person who has been issued a commission to perform notarial acts by the secretary of state pursuant to W.S. 32-1-101 through 32-1-109. A commissioned notarial officer is a notary public;

(x) "Credible witness" means an honest, reliable and impartial person who personally knows an individual appearing before a notarial officer and takes an oath or affirmation from the notarial officer to vouch for that individual's identity;

(xi) "Jurat" means a notarial act in which an individual at a single time and place:

(A) Is personally known to the notarial officer or identified by the notarial officer through satisfactory evidence;

(B) Signs the document in the presence of the notarial officer, as provided in subparagraph (xxi)(A) of this subsection; and

(C) Takes an oath or affirmation from the notarial officer vouching for the truthfulness or accuracy of the signed document.

(xii) "Notarial certificate" and "certificate" means the certificate required by W.S. 34-26-107;

(xiii) "Notary public" and "notary" mean a commissioned notarial officer;

(xiv) "Oath" means a notarial act, or part thereof, which is legally equivalent to an affirmation and in which an individual at a single time and place:

(A) Is personally known to the notarial officer or identified by the notarial officer through satisfactory evidence; and

(B) Makes a vow of truthfulness or fidelity on penalty of perjury while invoking a deity or using any form of the word "swear".

(xv) "Personal knowledge of identity," "personally known to the notarial officer" and "personally knows" mean familiarity with an individual resulting from interactions with that individual over a period of time or any other reasonable corroboration sufficient to dispel any reasonable uncertainty that the individual has the identity claimed;

(xvi) "Principal" means:

(A) A person whose signature is notarized; or

(B) A person, other than a credible witness, taking an oath or affirmation from the notarial officer.

(xvii) "Regular place of work or business" means a stationary office or workspace where one spends all or some of one's working or business hours;

(xviii) "Satisfactory evidence," when referring to proof of identity, means identification of an individual based on:

(A) The notarial officer's personal knowledge of identity;

(B) At least one (1) current document issued by a federal, state or tribal government agency bearing the photographic image of the individual's face and signature and a physical description of the individual, though a properly stamped passport without a physical description is acceptable; or

(C) The oath or affirmation of one (1) credible witness unaffected by the document or transaction who is personally known to the notarial officer and who personally knows the individual, or of two (2) credible witnesses unaffected by the document or transaction who each personally knows the individual and shows to the notarial officer documentary identification as described in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph.

(xix) "Seal" means a device for affixing on a document an image containing a notarial officer's name, jurisdiction, commission expiration date and other information related to the notarial officer's commission and identity as required by W.S. 32-1-106;

(xx) "Verification of fact" means a notarial act in which a notarial officer reviews public or vital records to ascertain or confirm any of the following facts regarding a person:

(A) Date of birth or death;

(B) Name of parent, offspring or sibling;

(C) Date of marriage or divorce; or

(D) Name of marital partner.

(xxi) "Personally appear," "in the presence of," and "appear before" mean for all purposes of this act except as used in paragraph (xi) of this subsection that:

(A) The principal is in the notarial officer's presence at the time of notarization; or

(B) The principal confirmed to the notarial officer that the principal signed the document.

(xxii) "This act" means W.S. 34-26-101 through 34-26-304.

(c) A properly executed jurat satisfies any requirement for an acknowledgement.