A.(1)  Notaries public have power within their several parishes:

(a)  To make inventories, appraisements, and partitions;

(b)  To receive wills, make protests, matrimonial contracts, conveyances, and generally, all contracts and instruments of writing;

(c)  To hold family meetings and meetings of creditors;

(d)  To receive acknowledgements of instruments under private signature;

(e)  To make affidavits of correction;

(f)  To affix the seals upon the effects of deceased persons, and to raise the same.

(2)  All acts executed by a notary public, in conformity with the provisions of Civil Code Art. 1833, shall be authentic acts.

(3)  Notwithstanding any provision in the law to the contrary, a notary public shall have power, within the parish or parishes in which he is authorized, to exercise all of the functions of a notary public and to receive wills in which he is named as administrator, executor, trustee, attorney for the administrator, attorney for the executor, attorney for the trustee, attorney for a legatee, attorney for an heir, or attorney for the estate.

B.  However, each notary public of this state shall have authority to administer oaths in any parish of the state, to swear in persons who appear to give testimony at a deposition before a general reporter or free-lance reporter certified under the provisions of R.S. 37:2551 et seq., and to verify interrogatories and other pleadings to be used in the courts of record of this state.  Such oaths, and the certificates issued by such notaries shall be received in the courts of this state and shall have legal efficacy for purposes of the laws on perjury.

C.  Every qualified notary public is authorized to certify true copies of any authentic act or any instrument under private signature hereafter or heretofore passed before him or acknowledged before him, and to make and certify copies, by any method, of any certificate, research, resolution, survey or other document annexed to the original of any authentic acts passed before him, and may certify such copies as true copies of the original document attached to the original passed before him.

Amended by Acts 1977, No. 354, §1; Acts 1981, No. 406, §1; Acts 1982, No. 427, §1; Acts 1984, No. 245, §1; Acts 1990, No. 843, §1, eff. July 24, 1990; Acts 2008, No. 856, §1.

CHAPTER 9.  UNAUTHORIZED EXERCISE OF NOTARIAL POWERS

§601.  Unlawful exercise of notarial powers; penalties

A.  A person, who has not first been duly authorized to exercise notarial powers in this state or whose authority to exercise notarial powers in this state has been judicially revoked, shall not perform any of the following actions:

(1)  Exercise or purport to exercise any notarial function.

(2)  Hold himself out to the public as being entitled to exercise notarial functions.

(3)  Render or furnish notarial services.

(4)  Take any acknowledgment, administer any oath, or execute any instrument purportedly as a notary public or as a person purportedly authorized to exercise notarial power and authority.

(5)  Assume to be a notary public or to be authorized to exercise notarial functions.

(6)  Assume, use, or advertise the title of notary public or ex officio notary or equivalent terms in any language, or any similar title in such a manner as to convey the impression that he is authorized to exercise notarial powers.

B.(1)  Any person who violates any provision of this Section shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.

(2)  In addition to the penalties provided by Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, the person shall be required to make full restitution for all costs required to authenticate, confirm, or ratify any instruments that fail to qualify as notarial acts due to the lack of proper authority of the notary or purported notary, including all costs of recordation and all damages each affected party may suffer.

Acts 2008, No. 904, §2, eff. July 10, 2008.