To take an acknowledgment, the document signer must personally appear before you, the notary public, and declare that he or she has signed the document voluntarily. You should ensure that the signer understands the document and has not been coerced into signing.

After witnessing the document being signed, the Notary then completes the appropriate certificate wording for the signature witnessing. An acknowledgment, on the other hand, does not require the Notary to witness the signature in most states.

The purpose of an acknowledgment is for a signer, whose identity has been verified, to declare to a Notary or notarial officer that he or she has willingly signed a document.

Alabama requires all notaries to authenticate all notarial acts by placing an Alabama notary stamp on documents they notarize. Documents that do not include an Alabama notary stamp cannot be recorded in county clerks' offices and may be rejected by the document receiver.

Purpose of the acknowledgment The purpose of an acknowledgement is to indicate that a signer appeared before a notary and “acknowledged” they signed a paper. The notary fills out the acknowledgment certificate reaffirming “Yes, they signed that”.

a notary public in and for said state, (name of officer signing document) who signed to the writing above, bearing the date of _____(date) (name of corporation) has this day acknowledged before me the said writing to be the act and deed of said corporation.

I, __________, a Notary Public, hereby certify that ______ whose name is signed to the foregoing conveyance, and who is known to me, acknowledged before me on this day that, being informed of the contents of the conveyance, he executed the same voluntarily on the day the same bears date.