A signer cannot say what the document is or why they are signing it. What should the notary do?

A notarial act certifies more than that a particular hand made a particular mark. It rests on the signer appearing, being identified, and acting knowingly and willingly, and that last element requires the signer to have some awareness of what they are doing. A person who cannot say what the document is or why they are signing has not demonstrated that awareness, and the notary has no basis to certify an act that depends on it. The notary is not assessing legal capacity — that is a determination for a court or a physician, and the notary should be careful not to phrase it that way — but is making the narrower observation that the signer could not indicate awareness of the act at the time. The wrong responses are all attempts to supply the awareness from outside: reading the document aloud puts information in but does not establish comprehension, and asking the person who arranged the appointment substitutes someone else's account for the signer's own. The notary declines and records the reason in the journal.

A notarial act requires the signer to be acting knowingly and willingly, and a signer who cannot indicate what the document is or why they are signing has not demonstrated the awareness the act depends on.

Notarial acts require the signer to appear, be identified, and act knowingly and willingly. A notary who cannot establish the signer's awareness of the act should decline and record the reason, without purporting to determine legal capacity.

Awareness, Not Comprehension. They need not understand every clause, but they must know what they are doing.

Record the refusal and the reason in the journal, and avoid language suggesting a capacity determination — that is not the notary's finding.

• •Reading the document aloud and treating that as establishing awareness
• •Accepting a third party's explanation of the signer's intent
• •Recording the refusal as a capacity determination