March 2026
Well, by now we assume you’ve heard about Todd Jacy, the now former Nebraska notary charged with improper conduct regarding a medical marijuana initiative. He was found guilty of 23 charges of official misconduct and 1 count of making a false statement under oath.
His case has sparked a firestorm in Nebraska, with both his criminal trial, but also a newer case that went all the way to the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Read MoreFeb. 2026
Some candidates for public office in Indiana will, or already have, updated documents to be properly notarized.
That is the word from the Secretary of State’s office.
Here are the basics. Candidates filed with properly notarized documents. But, they made amendments to the filing that were not properly notarized. This has lead to some candidates having to have amendments properly notarized.
Yes, probably.
Advocates have called into question whether the opponent’s challenge of a candidate’s documents would be valid. The law is rigid, in that it requires the notarizations, but it also has a lot of leeway for the Secretary of State’s office to accept documents they believe to be valid.
In any case, the Secretary of State’s office said they followed all procedures. Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales’s office had a response to the issue:
Candidates should be assured that the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office takes every precaution necessary to guarantee candidate filing paperwork is completed according to Indiana law,” Morales said in the statement. “As Indiana’s chief election officer, I will continue serving Hoosiers and not allow misleading reports to discredit confidence in our state’s election process.
As ballot seekers raced to complete paperwork, the biggest reason cited was not allowing their opponent to challenge.
One State Senator called it annoying.
Still, others came to re-file with a more positive spirit.
Late filers had an advantage.
Two days before the deadline, and new paperwork was still rolling in. But, most of these candidates had heard of the fuss and properly notarized all of their documents before submitting their paperwork.
A state Senator remarked that people have to ensure that everything is done diligently and properly.
The Secretary of State’s office kerfuffle looks to have been solved by following the law to the letter. Legal challenges to candidates’ filing status should be averted.
But, the Secretary of State’s office points to a previous law challenge that complicated the situation for some, specifically in Lake County. Lake County requires all potential candidates to apply in person at the county office.
Staff used to be able to notarize documents in the building, but an office move led to a lawsuit. It alleged that county personnel that are notaries should not be able to notarize documents.
It did not succeed, but the office went through some confusion during the lawsuit. The court ended up ruling in favor of the Lake County Clerk’s Office.
For their part, the Lake County Clerk’s Office has moved to avert any confusion. It has been conveyed to employees that they may also become notaries. They already have half a dozen on staff.
Hey, we’re always for documents being signed correctly. So, we don’t see how this ended in any other outcome ended in “Use a Notary”!
Sunshine Signing provides nationwide mobile notary and Remote Online Notarization (RON) services backed by 20 years of trusted experience in the title industry.
Jan 2026
We missed this when it was first released in October, but it is still ongoing so it is still a good idea to remind everyone. While this is currently happening in Maine, there is no reason it will not spread to other states that are vulnerable.
The Maine Secretary of State gave a warning of current scams targeting notaries, including those acting as wedding officiants.
Beware of over payments.
So this is how it goes. Client hires you to do a signing. Everything goes fine until after the signing.
The trick comes when you get paid. The client pays you too much money for the signing. Then they inevitably ask for you to refund the over payment. This is red flag #1.
Anyways, being the honest business person you are, you gladly refund the money. But, a bad surprise awaits. Your original payment either bounces or if digital, the payment is withdrawn.
Now you are out of the money for your services, but also for the refund.
“I urge anyone who receives an “overpayment” for services to be vigilant,” said Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. “Refuse the initial payment and ask that they resend it in the proper amount or wait for the payment to clear before any refund is sent. And if you accept digital payments, make sure you understand the policies of the platform you use. If you were scammed out of any money, contact your local law enforcement.”
So, it seems like we need to do a couple of things.
If someone overpays, refuse it. Request payment in the proper amount. It can quickly turn into a game of three card monte. And we know you always lose that game. Make sure your red flag alert is in full gear still.
We think the more important part is to make sure you got paid for your services before you deal with the potential scammer again. Make sure the money is in your account. And make sure you have all your ducks in a row when it comes with your payment service.
It was re-iterated that if you are being hussled or have already been scammed, contact your local law enforcement, which seems pretty obvious to us.
We always preach to protect yourself during signings. Ensure the signer is who they say they are, and not acting under distress. Make sure all of the documents are lined up and no information is missing. Make sure to keep your log up to date, etc.
Well, protect yourself for payments as well. Stay on top of it. Make sure you have the money.
And Beware of Over Payments.
January 2026
A new year brings in a few changes to notarial laws in Oklahoma. Background checks have dominated local conversation, but there are several fee changes that are of note, as well as the requirements for the notaries’ bond.
As states continue to bring notary fees into the 21st century, as well as a little extra cash for the coffers, notaries across a variety of states have been hit by higher initial and renewal fees. This is now the case in Oklahoma, where fees have more than doubled with the new rules changes.
The overall difference in many cases is not that much, but either way, it is going to be a cost of business to run your notary venture.
Here is a link to SB1028.
A national database background check will apply to all new applicants and renewals. While it is the case that Oklahoma notaries have always had a felony prevent them from being a notary, it appears the search for a case will now become more thorough.
The system is electronic, and allows a prospective or established notary to deliver their fingerprint by digital means. No information in the bill explains this process.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation will have 14 days from receipt to submit the results of the background check to the Secretary of State.
A felony conviction shall be grounds for removal of a person from the office of notary public and shall
preclude a person from further applying for or renewing a notary commission.
Before we start with fee changes, let’s touch the bond really quickly. The required bond with the state used to be, $1,000. It now rises to $10,000.
The fee for your background check is a new one, as that is new to the system. You may be charged $50 or the cost of the background check. Whichever cost is lower.
These funds shall be deposited in the Revolving Fund revolving fund created for the Secretary of State pursuant to the provisions of Section 276.1 of Title 62 of the Oklahoma Statutes.
The bill is pretty short and sweet.
The original bill wasn’t very long and these changes don’t change it that much. The federal background check sounds like a big change, but it really only affects rules that are already in effect, just in a more thorough manner.
And as we see fees rise across the country, it is no shock they would bind their way to Oklahoma.
Sunshine Signing provides nationwide mobile notary and Remote Online Notarization (RON) services backed by 20 years of trusted experience in the title industry.
We said we would keep you up to date on this story, so here it goes.
To backtrack, a Nebraska notary was accused of signing fraudulent signatures regarding the state’s medical marijuana bill. It amounted to 24 counts of improper notarization. The case was dismissed and then brought back to life via appeal.
And then the notary threw his ring in the hat to run for Governor of Nebraska.
We could try to go more in depth, but why don’t you check out our previous articles on the topic.
Well, it jumped to the Nebraska Supreme Court. And they heard first arguments on Wednesday, December 3rd.
So, we have Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana. Then we have former State Senator John Kuehn. Then a cross-filing was submitted by Secretary of State Bob Evnen. This is the guy who certified the signatures allowing the referendum to go on the ballot.
Both Kuehn and Evnen are asking the Nebraska Supreme Court to send the case back to a lower court.
Evnen’s lawyers argue that the case should be remanded to the lower court for the second part of the trial. They want the sponsors of the bill to prove they had enough valid signatures for the referendum.
Nebraskan’s for Medical Marijuana argued that Evnen does not have standing for this case, as he had a duty to certify ballots.
“We ask as a practical manner, for the benefit of the parties, for the benefit of the lawyers, and most importantly, for the benefit of the public, can Secretary Evnen certified the initiative, pull the plug at the last minute, admit he has no standing under the exclusive statutory provision, and then circumvent that through the declaratory judgment act?,” said Daniel Gutman, an attorney representing Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana.
Kuehn’s lawyers pointed to how the alleged fraud could affect future ballot initiatives. They basically say that if the current ruling from the lower court is allowed to stand, then any two people could game the system and get any future initiative they want onto the ballot.
It is an interesting argument, but one has to wonder how two people could do this.
But, Kuehn’s lawyers addressed that. They said that all people accused of malfeasance would have to do is invoke the fifth amendment.
Overall, this seems like it raised more questions than answers. But we guess that is probably the point of hearings like these.
And it appears the saga will continue.
Sunshine Signing provides nationwide mobile notary and Remote Online Notarization (RON) services backed by 20 years of trusted experience in the title industry.
A New Jersey class action lawsuit against UPS has cleared the bar and is allowed to proceed. The allegations are that UPS, and some of its franchises, overcharged for notary services.
In New Jersey the maximum fee is $2.50 per notarial act. UPS is alleged to have charged up to $15 per act. Was it put into a direct fee? No. It was hidden behind the surface as “notary convenience” or “clerical fee”.
The courts in New Jersey have ruled to let the lawsuit move forward. This is on the heels of the same action in Illinois. In both cases the courts found that the lawsuit had merit, based on the grounds of consumer protection.
Chief Judge Renée Marie Bumb denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Regarding the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Both the UPS Store Inc and franchises are defendants in the lawsuit. The court found the plaintiffs plausibly alleged that the agency had enough merit that the relationship between UPS Store corporate and its franchisees to allow a vicariously liability theory to proceed.
While UPS Store corporate is targeted in the lawsuit, they still may not be involved in the end result. This is based on if they had knowledge of the situation, and how it was handled between the corporate offices and the franchisees.
The plaintiffs alleged that TUPSS (The UPS Store Inc.) requires New Jersey franchisees to offer notary services, mandates the number of notaries available during operating hours, requires franchisees to use a standardized point-of-sale system with TUPSS-approved SKU codes, provides extensive training on notary services, and monitors transactional data including the amounts charged for notary services. The plaintiffs further alleged that TUPSS oversees advertising and marketing for notary services and maintains a customer-service department that sometimes issues refunds directly to customers regarding notary-service charges.
Plaintiffs purchased notary services at New Jersey UPS stores and, in class action complaints, alleged they were charged an amount that exceeded the $2.50 fee permitted by New Jersey law. Neither complaint alleged that the amount in controversy exceeded $5 million. During discovery, while an appeal from the denial of a motion to dismiss was pending, UPS produced a spreadsheet showing that the New Jersey UPS stores had more than one million notary transactions during the six-year class period, which established an amount in controversy that satisfied federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). UPS removed both complaints to federal court. The district court remanded, reasoning that UPS could have performed the required calculation when the spreadsheet was produced in December 2020, so the removal petitions filed months later were untimely. The court did not consider whether CAFA’s local controversy exception required remand.
As stated, this does not just affect New Jersey, but Illinois has a similar case result as well. This is bringing allegations in multiple states, and the class action lawsuits are sure to spread to other states.
This points to the integrity of the system at UPS for their notary services. People need to make sure they use people that they can rely on to do the job correctly, and charge fees legally allowed by law.
If you are in the Hudson area of Florida, you are always welcome to get your documents signed at our office located at 13939 Lakeshore Blvd. Suite 101, Hudson, FL 34667. You can depend on Sunshine Signing to get it right every time.
Sunshine Signing provides nationwide mobile notary and Remote Online Notarization (RON) services backed by 20 years of trusted experience in the title industry.
In a not so good development, a Seattle based mailing service had theft occur against them. Among the items were notary seals.
Lake Union Mail saw mail, credit cards and notary seals stolen. Stealing mail is a federal offense, making the break in a high stakes endeavor.
But, let’s focus on the notary seals. Replacements can be offered, but that does not put the seals completely out of the woods.
Video footage shows two offenders breaking in with a crowbar and grabbing whatever they can. Since the store has packages everywhere, they seemed to grab the easiest of the pickings.
The question that has not been answered so far is if the notary seals were for employees or if other notaries were affected. If other notaries were affected, it could cause more problems.
Why?
If we don’t know whose seals were stolen, how are they to be tracked down? Of course, individual notaries who have not received their expected seal should contact the proper authorities in the state to report the suspected incident.
Of course, the signings of the affected notaries will have to be audited. Will they be used in future endeavors of the thieves, or maybe they sell them off to someone who can better use them. The more we don’t know who is involved, the more complicated the problem may be.
Then there is the issue of backdating documents. If you remember, in the housing crisis of 2007, many backdated documents became the center of attention.
The fact of the matter, with such little information, it is tough to report on.
Are we being over reactive? Maybe.
But, we want to make sure notaries understand the possibilities here. May some of them not apply? We don’t know. But, if we don’t give you the whole picture, then we might be missing a crucial piece of information.
And the sour part is if it happened to them, it could happen to you in the future.
Here is to hoping the suspects are caught and convicted.
The state of California, in this case San Francisco, received another court ruling in favor of the state dealing with notarios. After suing a notario for a third time, they’ve won a ruling for over $600,000.
The notario offered legal services to immigrants, in some cases fleecing them for thousands of dollars, the court found.
These cases stretch all the way back to 2017, when the notary was ordered to stop offering legal advice, as they were not licensed to do so. Blatantly, the notary ignored that, and continued their actions.
This process was again re-iterated in 2022.
It appears the notary should have given themselves some legal advice.
We won’t delve into the history of the cases brought against the notary, as we covered that earlier.
A notario is a notary, plain and simple.
What differs is they offer services that are illegal. In this case, we are talking legal advice, which is aimed at immigrants who do not know better. See, in many countries notaries have different duties, one of which is they can offer legal advice in certain situations.
Who we call Notarios in the United States take advantage of that fact, and provide services not legal in the United States. They prey on people new to the country who do not know better. They often take all of their income or savings (or both), all for a service that will not help the immigrants.
Notarios give notaries a bad name and are shunned in the industry.
Over $600,000 has been declared in civil penalties and legal costs, a huge sum for the average notary. The are also barred from offering immigration services for the next five years.
The notary has kept their mouth shut since the verdict.
City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement that Lacayo flouted past rulings, showing “zero regard for the law.”
Nonprofit ‘La Raza Centro Legal’ said they have multiple clients who have been victims of [the notary]. Some people paid him thousands of dollars and are now at risk of deportation.
“[The notary] is a fraud. [They have] been operating I believe since before 2017, but we have been seeing that he has really being causing irreparable harm in the community to missed deadlines, to deportation or removal orders,” said April Calvo-Perez, attorney at La Raza Centro Legal.
The notary’s defense is that they have never provided illegal services and that they would be in jail if they did so.
The notary denied offering legal services for immigration. They said they mainly do taxes and that they do not file any immigration paperwork since the original injunction in 2017.
The court did not agree with the argument.
“I don’t have a penny to my name. I don’t have money. If I were swindling and defrauding people, I would have millions of dollars. I don’t have them because I don’t charge anything because I don’t do anything,” said the notary.
Notarios put a bad name to all notaries, and we are sure almost all of you are happy with the conclusion.
August 2025
Woah. It seems notarios are at the top of our list of stories lately. Maybe even dominating them.
We think people understand why this is such big news in our current environment, which is why we want to stay on top of the situation.
If you want to check out our earlier articles on the subject, you can find them here:
The new regulations started on July 1st.
The bill aims to reduce confusion among immigrants. Notario Publicos, in many countries, are highly trained individuals that can give legal advice. Some are even lawyers.
But, in the United States that is not the case. This befuddles many, opening the door for fraud.
A new law (HB 915) will prohibit Florida notaries without the appropriate law license from misrepresenting their legal experience when advertising their services, and bars them from using terms such as “immigration specialist”, “notario público” and “immigration consultant.”
In a rarity, the bill received bi-partisan support. Whether Governor Ron Desantis would approve the measure was up in the air. In the end he did, which we go over in the link at the top of our article.
Unless they are really attorneys, notaries are now required to post a disclaimer. This should describe their role and that they are not immigration consultants and cannot represent people in immigration matters.
“This bill is about protecting vulnerable communities, about advertisement, misleading advertisement, and unauthorized legal practices,” Marie Paule Woodson said. “It’s about transparency and accountability.”
At least dozens, if not hundreds, of cases are reported each month.
This bill is a step in the right direction. As a notary, it is imperative to provide a seamless transaction and to not offer advice to either side of the signing. Anything beyond that is not acceptable.
That people that target immigrants, mainly hispanic, need to be disbanded, as they make the industry look bad, especially because it is in the news so often right now.
Sunshine Signing works with the best notaries in the industry, all across the United States. You can always be assured that your signing will be done the right way, every time.
Sunshine Signing provides nationwide mobile notary and Remote Online Notarization (RON) services backed by 20 years of trusted experience in the title industry.
August 2025
Wow.
The notario situation has completely blown up. Why it is so difficult for a notary not to provide legal advice? Easy, it is a great way to get the uninformed in the door and make some money in the process.
We recently brought up the issue of Notarios in California, an issue that is most prominent in Florida, but is gaining traction wherever immigrant populations are prevalent.
Of note, in this circumstance this notary did not call himself a notario. Instead he opened a business that sounds legitimate for the situation. Some may also think the name sounds like a lawyer.
But, it is not.
This goes way back to 2017 when an injunction was placed on the notary for the same behavior. The notary was charging thousands of dollars for illegitimate legal advice.
Again, in 2022, the notary was hit with a court order to emphasize the injunction, as it was ignored the first time.
In the case, the court found, during those four years, the notary filed at least 400 documents to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
But, it appears the notary has not stopped. They do not have a law degree, but offer legal services. They hide all the activity by mainly advertising themselves as a tax preparation service.
It stinks when a notary tries to give everyone else a bad name. Note in this case, the “notario” appeared not to be one, which is why this has been lingering for at least 8 years.
