Disclaimer: The IBA has received information from the Office of the General Counsel for the Illinois Secretary of State that changes our guidance on this question. Please review this Q&A for our most recent guidance on this subject.

We believe that your external auditor’s suggestion is based on recent revisions to the Illinois Notary Public Act that have not yet taken effect.

In 2021, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill amending the Illinois Notary Public Act. The bill takes effect when the Illinois Secretary of State adopts implementing regulations, which it has proposed but not yet adopted. This major rewrite of the law included a new provision that prohibits notaries public from explaining, certifying, or verifying the contents of any documents they are notarizing. When this bill goes into effect, we do not believe that a mortgage may be notarized by a loan originator — who may be in the position of explaining the contents of the mortgage documents with the mortgagor.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• Illinois Notary Public Act, 5 ILCS 312/6-104(k), effective on adoption of final rules by the Secretary of State (“No notary public shall be authorized to explain, certify, or verify the contents of any document; however, this prohibition shall not prohibit an attorney, who is also a notary public, from performing notarial acts for any document prepared by that attorney.”)

• Public Act 102-160, Section 99 (“Effective date. This Act takes effect on the later of: (1) January 1, 2022; or (2) the date on which the Office of the Secretary of State files with the Index Department of the Office of the Secretary of State a notice that the Office of the Secretary of State has adopted the rules necessary to implement this Act, and upon the filing of the notice, the Index Department shall provide a copy of the notice to the Legislative Reference Bureau; except that, the changes to Sections 1-106, 2-103, and 2-106 of the Illinois Notary Public Act take effect July 1, 2022.”)