South Dakota recently enacted Senate Bill 193 (2021), which makes changes to the state’s remote notary statute by defining terms and adding Section § 18-4-29 to S.D. Codified Laws, which provides a new certification of acknowledgment for a notarial act performed using video communication.
Senate Bill 193 makes changes to previous remote notarizations laws enacted by House Bill 1272 in 2019. Unlike other states, South Dakota only allows the use of communication technology during a notarization if the notary “affixes the notarial officer’s signature to the original tangible documents” executed by the signer and only if the signer is personally known to the notary.
Effective July 1, 2021, Senate Bill 193 strikes the current definition of “communication technology” while adding a new definition for “video communication technology” and “personal knowledge.” The definition of personal knowledge has been revised to mean “the notarial officer must have known and had regular interactions with the individual for an extended period of time. A mere acquaintance does not amount to personal knowledge for purposes of this definition; or the notarial officer represents the individual as their attorney, real estate agent, auctioneer, or public accountant, or any combination thereof."
New Section §18-4-29 provides the form for the certification of acknowledgment that must be used, with substantially the same wording, when a notarization is completed using video communication technology. The certification includes a statement regarding the relationship of the notary to the signer, as it cannot be just a one-time meeting or “mere acquaintance”.
DocMagic will be updating the South Dakota notary certificate as of the effective date to allow for the addition of the required information to be added to the form.
.
