Hawaii Notary Public Practice Exam 2026 - Free Notary Public Practice Questions and Study Guide

When changes are made to a document before it is notarized, the appropriate action for a notary is to initial in the margin opposite each change. This practice serves several important purposes: it confirms that the notary is aware of and approves the alterations, it protects the integrity of the document by ensuring that the parties involved acknowledge the modifications, and it provides a clear record that the notary verified the changes at the time of signing.

By initialing next to the changes, the notary is verifying that the document was altered before notarization and that the signer agrees with those changes. This not only helps to prevent any disputes over what was altered but also reinforces the notary's duty to provide an accurate and reliable notarization process.

While rewriting the document entirely or requesting a new document can be excessive and potentially lead to confusion, simply notifying the signing party of the changes does not fulfill the notary's responsibility to document their awareness of those changes in a formal manner. Therefore, initialing in the margin is the most effective and proper response in this situation.