Can notaries do certified translations?
Yes and no. Let me explain. To be sure that a translation will be accepted as certified, it should be properly certified by the translator, and his/her signature must be notarized. A notary cannot notarize his own signature. So, if a document has been translated by somebody who happens to be a notary and is a qualified translator, his/her signature must be notarized by another notary. If the notary is doing the translation, signing and notarizing his/her own signature, there are a couple of options. a) The notary knows he/she cannot do it, and likely the document will be refused, so he/she is being dishonest. b) If the notary does not know he/she cannot self-notarize a document, then he/she is a bad notary, that does not know notarial law. Rather unfortunately we have had to correct that situation many times. Clients normally admit they did it with the notary because he/she was less expensive. Then they wasted time and money, and ...