OPINION 94-107

SUBJECT: Authority of Notary Publics to prepare legal documents.

It is the OPINION of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee that the Office of Notary Public is a creature of statute, specifically created by The Notary Public Law, 1953 Aug. 21 P.L. 1323 §1, etc., that notaries are specifically limited to the powers and authority therein granted to them, and that there is nothing in the law which authorizes a notary public to prepare any documents or writings which would have any legal effect, and that such preparation of any such documents or writings by a Notary Public is the unauthorized practice of law, within the meaning of 42 Pa. C.S.A. § 2524. The duties of a Notary Public are set forth in 57 P.S. Sections 162-165.