January 2009 Vol. 2, No. 1

Legislative Updates

Illinois

Notary

PA 95-0988, Effective Date: June 1, 2009, Number of bill that became the Act: SB 546, Code sections changed by the Act: 5 ILCS 312/1-101.

Senate Bill 546 amends the Illinois Notary Public Act to require that a notarial record be kept for every notarial act in Illinois involving documents of conveyance transferring title to residential real property located in Cook County.

As a minor alteration, the bill requires a notary to sign every notary certificate rather than simply affix their seal. This change is also set to expire on July 1, 2013, after the Governor executed an amendatory veto on the bill.

The major functional change of SB 546 is the requirement that any notary in Illinois shall create a notarial record of each act which purports to convey title to residential real property within Cook County. The general requirements of the record include: date, type of document of conveyance being used, PIN, name and address of the signature being notarized, description of the evidence used to verify the person, fee charged, the notary's contact information, and the thumbprint of the person signing the conveyance. If the notary is a principal or employee of a title insurance company, they must deliver the document within 14 days to their employer for a retention period of seven years as part of their principal business records. If not, the notary must deliver it to the Recorder of Deeds for Cook County.

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