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A notary is a public official who is appointed by the state whose purpose is to serve the public as an impartial witness in performing a variety of official fraud-deterrent acts related to the signing of important documents. In Indiana, notary publics are appointed by the Governor and are commissioned by the Secretary of State. Depending on how a document is written, a notarization serves to affirm the identity of a signer and the fact that they personally executed their signature. A notarization, or notarial act, officially documents the identity of a party to a document or transaction and the occasion of the signing that others can rely upon, usually at face value. A notary’s authentication is intended to be reliable, to avoid the inconvenience of having to locate a signer to have them personally verify their signature, as well as to document the execution of a document perhaps long after the lifetime of the signer and the notary. An oath is a sworn statement. In most cases a person will swear that a written statement, oral statement, or testimony they are about to give is true. A notary can document that the notary administered an oath to an individual. In the alternative, a notary can notarize an individual’s signature on a document (affidavit) setting forth the information that a person swears is true or the oath they will abide by. There are four basic components of a notary public. He or she serves as a law abiding, bonded, impartial, public official