Power of attorney notarization guide

Introduction

In order to register a vehicle, the vehicle’s new owner must sign the buyer’s section of its prior title, its official ownership document.

Only authentic title documents - not copies, scans, or images - are acceptable, so a vehicle’s new owner cannot electronically sign a title.

In many cases, vehicle buyers are able to collect the vehicle’s prior title when they collect the vehicle, and sign it directly before sending it to visitor.us for registration.

In some cases, however, logistical factors prevent visitor.us customers from physically signing a vehicle’s prior title before it is sent to visitor.us for registration.

In cases where a visitor.us customer cannot physically sign the vehicle’s prior title, the customer can authorize visitor.us to sign on their behalf.

Authorization must be done by a power of attorney, and that power of attorney must be notarized.

So if you cannot physically sign the buyer’s section of your vehicle’s prior title, visitor.us can sign it on your behalf with a notarized power of attorney.
‍

What is a power of attorney?

A power of attorney is a document that allows one person to authorize another person to act on their behalf on a specified matters.

visitor.us uses Montana’s Form MV65 - Power of Attorney form to capture your authorization to sign your vehicle’s documents on your behalf.

We pre-populate your power of attorney form with your name and vehicle’s details, like in the following example:

What is notarization?

Notarization is the process by which a trusted public official, usually notary public (also done by a justice of the peace in some countries) officially witnesses the signing of a document, verifies the identity of the signers, and ensures that they are signing voluntarily and understand the contents of the document.

Notarization helps to prevent fraud and provides an added layer of authenticity and trust to important documents.

In order to authorize visitor.us to sign your vehicle’s title on your behalf, your power of attorney needs to be notarized.
‍

How do I get my power of attorney notarized?

There are two ways to get your power of attorney document notarized: physical notarization or remote online notarization.
‍

Option 1: Physical notarization

The first way to have your power of attorney notarized is to print it out and visit a notary public (or justice of the peace) in person.  The notary public will witness you sign the power of attorney, and countersign and stamp the document.
‍

Physical notarization tips

• Wait to sign the document until you are in front of the notary public
• You can find a notary public in the US by Googling “notary public near me”
• Notarization in the US takes less than five minutes and costs between five and ten dollars
• Call ahead to ensure a notary public is on duty, and that the notary public accepts the identity documents that you have (some US chains require US identity documents)
• Notarizations outside of the US are acceptable; the notary can write the province and country in the “State of” field
• If the notary notarizes a document attached to the power of attorney (such as a jurat, affidavit, or affirmation), ensure that the attached document references the VIN of the vehicle.

Only an authentic physically notarized document - not a copy, photo, or scan of it - is accepted, so if you choose the physical notarization option, visitor.us provides a shipping label to send the document to our office.  If you are shipping your notarized power of attorney from outside of the US, a $50 international shipping fee may apply.

When we receive your notarized power of attorney, we will upload it to the visitor.us dashboard with one business day and send you an email letting you know that we received it.
‍

Option 2: Remote online notarization

The second way to have your power of attorney document notarized is via a remote online notarization, which is a notarization performed via video conference on a platform that Montana has approved.

Just as with a physical notarization, the notary public must verify the signer’s identity.

While Montana has approved many remote online notarization platforms, the vast majority of these platforms verify the signer’s identity by asking questions about their US credit history. As most visitor.us customers don’t have a US credit history, this disqualifies these platforms for them.

‍NotaryCam.com is the top remote online notarization platform that can verify a user’s identity without a US credit history.

If you choose to have your power of attorney notarized via the remote online notarization option, visitor.us will submit your pre-populated power of attorney to NotaryCam.com, which will contact you to schedule a video conference notarization session at a time that’s convenient for you.

visitor.us charges $95 for remote online notarizations.

When your notarization session is complete, NotaryCam.com will send your notarized power of attorney document to visitor.us automatically.

(Unlike physically notarized documents, a copy of a remote online notarized power of attorney is acceptable.)

When we receive your notarized power of attorney, we will upload it to the visitor.us dashboard with one business day and send you an email letting you know that we received it.

‍

Conclusion

In order to register your vehicle, the buyer’s section of your vehicle’s prior title must be signed.  If you are unable to physically sign it, you can authorize visitor.us to sign it on your behalf with a notarized power of attorney.

Once we have your notarized power of attorney - whether physically notarized or remote online notarized - visitor.us can sign the buyer’s section of your vehicle’s title and submit it for registration.