Hello
On this page, we want to inform you about best practices to keep you safe from the risks posed by using unsecured communication channels in daily life. Like any other activity throughout history, the image of notarial services is susceptible to being compromised by individuals who may lead you to believe they are providing or facilitating notarial services, when it could be a scam. Keep reading to learn more.
Be Prepared
You should know that, by law, a Notary Public has only one office to perform their duties and no others. The office's facade must display their name, the notary number, and the office hours, which must be open to the public for at least eight hours during business hours.
The Notary Public is a legal professional, vested with public faith by the executive power of the State in which they reside, and cannot act outside of this jurisdiction. However, they can provide services for any legal matter from any part of the Mexican territory, as long as these services are rendered within their notary office, in the state and municipality where they are registered.
All legal acts are serious matters with legal consequences, so notaries public only perform their services within their notary office, never over the phone, by text message, by email, or by messaging apps. Therefore, it is not possible to formalize acts before a Notary unless they occur in their presence, with all interested parties present, and within the notary office.
Notaries public can establish non-in-person contact methods within their notary office, meaning you can communicate with the notary, their lawyers, and their hired staff, and you can be assured that this communication occurs under strict standards of professional secrecy. However, you should avoid revealing intimate information through these means, prioritizing communication within the notary office. These contact methods are established by the notary and may change without prior notice, but the notary is always responsible for notifying all relevant authorities afterward, such as the Secretary of Government, the General Directorate of Notaries, the Municipal Government, the Municipal Police, their dissemination service provider, and their list of clients who have permitted such notices.
In very special cases, the Notary and their lawyers may contact their clients to offer guidance using contact methods such as telephone, email, and instant messaging systems. This is solely to provide better service in advising those who wish to visit a notary to formalize an act or request a service.
It is not normal for Notaries or their lawyers to request the following from clients through insecure contact methods: personal information, documentation, cash, bank transfers, payments, or access to your home. If this happens, please terminate the communication and report it in person at the notary office.
When someone becomes a Notary Public or ceases to be one for any reason, this is not usually disseminated through mass media such as television, radio, private newspapers, or social networks. However, it is published in the official journals or newspapers managed by the Government of the corresponding State. If you wish to verify whether someone is truly a Notary Public, you can contact the State’s Secretary of Government where the Notary is registered, the General Directorate of Notaries in that state, the official newspaper's office in that state, the local Notary Guild in that state, and the National College of Mexican Notaries.
The Public Notary and Their Relationship with the Community
Each state in the republic defines and decides, based on its laws, how and how many Notaries Public it will appoint and under what circumstances a new one will be appointed. As a result, the frequency with which notaries change in a federal entity is usually a rare event. Therefore, they are individuals who are well-known and recognized by their client base and the local population, who can identify them by name and appearance.
Anyone who, without being appointed as a Notary Public and without being authorized to begin their duties, claims to be a Notary Public, induces the belief of being a Notary Public, or performs acts typical of notarial functions will be subject to civil and criminal sanctions, which are pursued ex officio.
In all federal entities, it is common to recognize three types of Notaries Public:
The Principal Notary Public: A legal professional who has proven their knowledge through a competitive exam to the full satisfaction of the State Executive and has received a Notarial Patent and the assignment where they can perform their duties. They have elements of notarial authorization and certification with their full name and jurisdiction, which are registered with the corresponding institution.
The Assistant Notary Public: A legal professional requested by a Principal Notary to assist them during occasional moments when they will not be present at the notary’s office to witness authorized acts. The state may administer a competitive exam to them, and they will receive an Assistant Notary Patent issued by the State Executive corresponding to their principal.
The Substitute Notary Public: A legal professional requested by a Principal Notary to take their place at the notary’s office in the event that they need to request a leave of absence. The State Government will issue a Substitute Notary Patent and announce it through the appropriate channels. Unlike the assistant notary, the substitute notary will have certification and authorization elements with their full name.
Associated Notaries: Legal professionals who have their Notarial Patent authorized to coexist in the same notary’s office and authorize acts in the same notarial book. It is emphasized that they will only have one office as a Notary Public, with the names and numbers of both notaries visible.
Individuals are free to consult any Notary Public, especially if they trust them, to perform any act that the notary is authorized to perform. However, there are special cases where a client, as a consumer, may not be able to execute the legal business before the Notary of their choice. For example: in sales contracts, the buyer has the right to choose the notary, except as provided by standardized commercial practices by NOM-247-SE-2021, where in mortgage transactions, the Notary Public must be listed in the registry of the housing agency or credit institution involved, to be chosen by the buyer. A common example is when a buyer acquires their home through a loan from INFONAVIT, FOVISSSTE, or a bank.
The Notary Public is governed by the lawyer’s code of ethics and the Notary Public’s code, and must be cautious, impartial, mediators, prudent, and promptly inform their clients of any fundamental matters related to their case, always preserving professional secrecy, never disclosing information to third parties, and only providing data related to the legal act to competent authorities who request it on a justified and well-grounded basis. The Notary knows the best way to explain the legal implications and consequences of what happens to their clients.
What Can I Do to Avoid Scams and Misunderstandings?
Be present at the notary's office and be attended to by the Notary Public or their licensed legal attorneys.
Avoid making cash payments to settle the Notary's fees and taxes. Do so through bank transfer, requesting official receipts containing information about the Notary Public.
The Notary's fees are the amount in national currency that corresponds to them for their notarial services since their role does not receive any payment from public funds, meaning taxpayer money.
Know that the basis for calculating the Notary's fees is established by the State Government body responsible for this. In the State of Quintana Roo, it is the Secretary of Government, which establishes it in a decree by the State Executive and disseminates it through its official newspaper. When it comes to a register regulated by an Official Mexican Standard, the Notary's fees are transparently established for the client by the housing agency or bank.
Taxes and duties are payments that clients must make to guarantee the issuance of a mandatory requirement and fulfill a tax obligation with the Treasury. The notary may collect them from the client and pay them to the authorities, providing the official receipt as a result of doing so. Alternatively, the client may pay what corresponds and deliver the official receipts to the Notary, along with the document that the authority produces after payment, such as an acknowledgment, certificate, or statement.
Notaries Public issue their budgets with complete information about their activities, name, contact details, address, and payment methods, which will be in the name of the Notary Public as an individual and, in some cases, in the name of a legally established company of which the Notary is a part. In any case, they will issue the corresponding digital tax receipt via the internet.
If I have not visited the notary's office and did not obtain the information, advice, phone number, or email address there, I should completely avoid providing identification documents, making requested payments, especially without a budget.
If I met the Notary through social media, television, radio, or videos on the internet, I should know that this is only for informational and even entertainment purposes, not to clarify specific doubts about my case or establish secure contact through these means. Secure contact is one in which professional secrecy is guaranteed, and I can provide confidential information about my case, trusting that I am in contact with the Notary Public or both the Notary Public and their attorneys.
Notaries Public do not allow partiality, error, deceit, violence, or coercion at any time, in any place, and in any form. Therefore, if one of the clients shows these signs, the Notary Public should indicate that it is necessary to improve behavior between the parties and with the Notary. This is reciprocal; the Notary Public will conduct themselves respectfully with their clients and will not allow, consent to, or engage in any of the negative situations mentioned in this paragraph. Other negative reciprocal behaviors between clients and the Notary include unnecessarily extending the time of a process or service, altering prices established by regulations, expecting responses outside of the established hours and time of attention, concealing the truth or necessary information to carry out legal formalities and requirements, leading one of the parties into error or confusion, being imprecise with information or expressing themselves with convoluted language, and suddenly changing or establishing new conditions to formalize the act unfairly.
If the above occurs, it allows clients to point out the negative behavior to the Notary for resolution or termination of the service. If it was caused by the Notary or their staff, it can also be pointed out for resolution or termination of the service and, depending on its severity, to the appropriate law enforcement.
The act with a Notary Public is legally printed in a book called a protocol, which can be a complete book or loose sheets of security paper, with the Notary's full name, notary number, and the State Government seal, and each of these loose sheets has a unique number, known as a folio. These loose sheets are then orderly assembled as a book. I must sign this document as I do on my identification document, and it will have my full name. If not, the Notary will instruct me to write it near my signature. If I cannot write, I will need to choose two witnesses who will sign this document, and I will provide my fingerprint.
Now, anticipating another situation, if I request the services of a Notary Public and indeed went to the Notary’s office, received advice, and made one or more payments for fees, taxes, and duties, I must know that if I regret carrying out the act or when the Notary and a person have already signed the protocol document. If taxes and duties have already been paid to the authorities, these cannot be refunded, and the Notary who has already fulfilled the initial legal requirements cannot be forced to refund all or part of the fees; especially if thirty days have passed since the protocol was signed, having summoned me to sign or having regretted the act.
The Notary Public is a tax collector, jointly obligated by the tax collection authorities, helping their clients to pay the taxes and duties corresponding only to the acts they intend to carry out before them, so as not to have tax debts. This is why notaries request that taxes and duties be paid to them to authorize the acts performed before them and never afterward to prevent non-compliance with obligations. The Notary calculates these taxes and duties, declares them, pays them to the authorities on behalf of their clients, as they are authorized to do, and obtains the tax receipts to prove compliance with the tax obligation.
When a Notary Public is unable to meet all legal requirements due to causes attributable to their clients, for example, not paying the requested or updated tax, they may withdraw from continuing with the act. If they have already authorized it preventively, they will cancel it within thirty days, marking it with the legend "NOT VALID." At this point, requests for a refund of the paid fees are not valid. Any taxes that the Notary has collected and not deposited with the authority will be returned to the payer, but if they have already been paid to the authority, the taxpayer will need to carry out the procedures that correspond to their rights before that authority.
What Tools Do I Have to Verify That I Am Being Attended by a Legal Professional and a Notary Public?
There are several ways to verify that you are being attended to by individuals authorized for notarial functions and even as licensed legal attorneys under Mexican law. Some involve requesting to see the official document that certifies them, and others are as simple as a search in a government database.
When an attorney provides legal advice to someone, you can ask if they are a licensed attorney. If they answer affirmatively, you can conduct your own research and due diligence to confirm it. A first step could be respectfully asking if they can show their valid professional license. In Mexico, this document is issued by the Ministry of Public Education, and you can consult it in the official database of this authority. All you need is the person's full name and to locate them within the results here:
https://cedulaprofesional.sep.gob.mx/cedula/presidencia/indexAvanzada.action
Notaries Public have a document called a Notarial Patent or Fiat. It is a document signed by the Governor or Head of Government of the Federal Entity that authorized them for the notarial function. This document is published in the official newspaper of the Federal Entity where the Notary practices, and they should also have it in their Notary Office. If you hire the services of a Notary Public or someone tells you they are a Notary Public or makes you believe they are a Notary Public, you can request that they show you their Notarial Patent or Fiat.
In the case of Quintana Roo, in most cases, you can request the Official Newspaper of this entity to help you find the publication of the Notary Public's patent. The link to the microsite is here:
http://po.segob.qroo.gob.mx/sitiopo/MicroPO.php
Remember that only official Mexican government websites contain ".gob.mx" in their domain name. No entity or person outside the government can impersonate these internet domains. However, we advise you to take extra precautions when clicking on any internet link whose origin and destination you do not know, and always check your browser's URL address bar to confirm where you are.