If you've ever had the pleasure of dealing with the folks at the Wayne County Register of Deeds or other Wayne County offices, you know how, um, challenging it can be. Service is not their forte, and it seems like they will find any reason to reject recordable docs like deeds and mortgages. They've recently found a new excuse to reject these documents.

As most notaries are aware, when performing a notarization in a county other than the county of our commission, we're required to indicate that we are acting in that county. Most notary stamps already have a line included in the stamp to address this, we just add the county we're in like this:

Alex G. Yvonnou
County of Wayne
Acting in the County of: Oakland

Simple enough. "Acting in" is required when you're in another county, but NOT when you're performing the notarization in the county of your commission. So if I'm notarizing a signature in Wayne County, I'm not ACTING in Wayne County, I'm already commissioned there. But tell that to Wayne County Register of Deeds. They are now rejecting documents for not having the "Acting in" portion filled out, even if you are commissioned in Wayne. Correct? No. Logical? Nope. Try to fight with them about it? Don't bother. It's their way or the highway. So Wayne County notaries better start filling in "Acting in" even when you're in Wayne or you'll be getting a call from your hiring party about your "error".

And dear Wayne County, here's the link to the Michigan Notary Act, specifically Section 55.287, which indicates that "Acting in" is only required when in a county other than the county of commission: 55.287. Not that you actually care.