IPS Network Blog

A Notary Public is an official of integrity appointed by state government—typically by the secretary of state — to serve the public as an impartial witness in performing a variety of official fraud-deterrent acts related to the signing of important documents. These official acts are called notarizations or notarial acts. Notaries are publicly commissioned as “ministerial” officials, meaning that they are expected to follow written rules without the exercise of significant personal discretion, as would be the case with a “judicial” official. It is the foremost duty of a Notary to screen the signers of particularly sensitive instruments — such as property deeds, wills and powers of attorney — for their true identity, their willingness to sign without duress or intimidation, and their awareness of the general import of the document. Some notarizations also require the Notary to put the signer under an oath declaring under penalty of perjury that the information contained in a docume...

What is a Subpoena? A Subpoena is an order that commands a person to do any of the following: >> appear in court to testify at a hearing: >> appear in court to testify AND produce tangible evidence (photos, payroll records, etc.); >> appear before a government agency to testify and/or produce tangible evidence (photos, documents, records, etc.) for a hearing being conducted by the agency. Such agencies include the Department of Children and Families (DCF), Division of Administrative Law Appeals (DALA), Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), etc.; >> appear at a deposition to testify and/or produce tangible evidence. A deposition is sworn testimony taken out of court before a an officer authorized to administer oaths. Such officers can be a Notary Public, Justice of the Peace, or someone appointed by the court to take a deposition. How can a Subpoena help me? For example, if you're going through a divorce and need to see how much you...