2022 Wyoming Statutes
Title 32 - Notaries Public
Chapter 3 - Notaries Public
Article 1 - Wyoming Revised Uniform Notarial Act
Section 32-3-102 - Definitions.

32-3-102. Definitions.

(a) As used in this act:

(i) "Acknowledgment" means a declaration by a principal before a notarial officer that the principal has knowingly and willingly signed a record for the purposes stated in the record and, if the record is signed in a representative capacity, that the principal signed the record with proper authority, signed it as the act of the principal or entity identified in the record and acknowledges that the record was executed and acknowledged knowingly and willingly;

(ii) "Affirmation" means a notarial act, or part thereof, which is legally equivalent to an oath and in which a person at a single time and place:

(A) Is identified by the notarial officer through satisfactory evidence; and

(B) Makes a vow of truthfulness or fidelity on penalty of perjury, based on personal honor and without invoking a deity or using any form of the word "swear".

(iii) "Appearing before," "in the presence of," "personal appearance" and "personally appear" mean being in the same physical location as another person and close enough to see, hear, communicate with and exchange identification credentials with that person or interacting with another remotely located person by means of an electronic notarization system or other form of communication technology in compliance with this act;

(iv) "Commission" means both to empower to perform notarial acts and the written evidence of authority to perform those acts;

(v) "Communication technology" means an electronic device or process that:

(A) Allows a notarial officer and a remotely located person to communicate with each other simultaneously by sight and sound; and

(B) When necessary and consistent with other applicable law, facilitates communication with a remotely located person who has a vision, hearing or speech impairment.

(vi) "Credential analysis" means a process or service through which a third person affirms the validity of a government issued identification credential through review of public and proprietary data sources;

(vii) "Credible witness" means an honest, reliable and impartial person who personally knows a principal appearing before a notarial officer and takes an oath or affirmation from the notarial officer to vouch for that principal's identity;

(viii) "Dynamic knowledge based authentication assessment" means an identity assessment that is based on a set of questions formulated from public or private data sources that does not contain a question for which the principal provided a prior answer to the entity doing the assessment;

(ix) "Electronic" means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic or similar capabilities;

(x) "Electronic notarization system" is a specific form of communication technology which utilizes a set of applications, programs, hardware, software or technologies designed to enable a notarial officer to perform electronic notarizations that renders every electronic notarial act tamper evident through the use of a security procedure, verifies the identity of a remotely located person through identity proofing or a dynamic knowledge based authentication assessment and that meets the necessary requirements as determined by the secretary of state;

(xi) "Electronic record" means a record containing information that is created, generated, sent, communicated, received or stored by electronic means;

(xii) "Electronic signature" means an electronic symbol, sound or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record;

(xiii) "Foreign state" means a jurisdiction other than the United States, a state in the United States or a federally recognized Indian tribe;

(xiv) "Identification credential" means a passport, driver's license or other form of identification issued by a federal, state or tribal government agency, which is current or expired not more than three (3) years before performance of the notarial act, and is satisfactory to the notarial officer as evidencing a person's identity;

(xv) "Identity proofing" means a process or service, if required by an electronic notarization system or other form of communication technology, by which a third person provides a notarial officer with a means to verify the identity of a remotely located person by:

(A) A review of personal information from public or private data sources; or

(B) Biometric data including but not limited to facial recognition, voice analysis or fingerprint analysis.

(xvi) "In a representative capacity" means acting as:

(A) An authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee or other representative for a person other than the principal;

(B) A public officer, personal representative, guardian or other representative in the capacity stated in a record;

(C) An agent or attorney-in-fact for a principal; or

(D) An authorized representative of another in any other capacity.

(xvii) "Jurisdiction" means the authority of a state, foreign or domestic, or a federally recognized Indian tribe;

(xviii) "Notarial act" means an act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that a notarial officer may perform under the law of this state. The term includes taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification on oath or affirmation, or jurat, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy and noting a protest of a negotiable instrument;

(xix) "Notarial officer" means a notary public or other person authorized to perform a notarial act;

(xx) "Notary public" means a person commissioned to perform a notarial act by the secretary of state;

(xxi) "Oath" means a notarial act, or part thereof, which is legally equivalent to an affirmation and in which a person at a single time and place:

(A) Is identified by the notarial officer through satisfactory evidence; and

(B) Makes a vow of truthfulness or fidelity on penalty of perjury while invoking a deity or using any form of the word "swear".

(xxii) "Official stamp or seal" means a physical image affixed to a tangible record, or an electronic image attached to or logically associated with an electronic record, containing information required by this act;

(xxiii) "Outside the United States" means a location outside the geographic boundaries of the United States, Puerto Rico or the United States Virgin Islands and any territory, insular possession or other location subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;

(xxiv) "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, statutory trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity;

(xxv) "Personal knowledge of identity," "personally known to the notarial officer" and "personally knows" mean familiarity with a person resulting from interactions with that person over a period of time or any other corroboration sufficient to dispel any reasonable uncertainty that the person has the identity claimed;

(xxvi) "Principal" means:

(A) A person whose signature is notarized; or

(B) A person, other than a credible witness, taking an oath or affirmation from the notarial officer.

(xxvii) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;

(xxviii) "Remote ink notarization" means the notarial act of an acknowledgment performed by means of an electronic notarization system or other form of communication technology on a tangible record that meets the standards adopted in this act;

(xxix) "Remote online notarization" means a notarial act or notarization performed by means of an electronic notarization system or other form of communication technology on an electronic record that meets the standards adopted under this act;

(xxx) "Remotely located person" means a person who is not in the physical presence of a notarial officer;

(xxxi) "Satisfactory evidence", when referring to proof of identity, means meeting the requirements of both subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this paragraph as applicable:

(A) Identifying a person appearing before a notarial officer by means of:

(I) The notarial officer's personal knowledge of identity;

(II) Inspection by the notarial officer of an identification credential in accordance with W.S. 32-3-102(xiv); or

(III) By a verification on oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally appearing before the officer and known to the officer or whom the officer can identify upon inspection of an identification credential in accordance with W.S. 32-3-102(xiv).

(B) If appearing by means of an electronic notarization system or other form of communication technology, a principal or credible witness may be required to prove satisfactory evidence on the basis of two (2) or more different types of technologies, processes or services, such as dynamic knowledge based authentication assessment, valid public key certificate, identity proofing, credential analysis or other means required by the electronic notarization system or other form of communication technology being used, or as may be prescribed in rule by the secretary of state.

(xxxii) "Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:

(A) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or

(B) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound or process.

(xxxiii) "Signature" means a tangible symbol or an electronic signature that evidences the signing of a record;

(xxxiv) "Signature witnessing" or "signature attestation" means a notarial act in which a notarial officer witnesses a principal execute a record knowingly and willingly for the purposes intended while appearing before the notarial officer;

(xxxv) "Sole control" or "sole possession" means at all times being in the direct physical custody of a notarial officer or safeguarded by a notarial officer with a password or other secure means of authentication or access;

(xxxvi) "Stamping device" means:

(A) A physical device capable of affixing to a tangible record an official stamp; or

(B) An electronic device or process capable of attaching an official stamp to, or logically associating an official stamp with, an electronic record.

(xxxvii) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;

(xxxviii) "Venue" means the geographical location in which a notarial act or notarization takes place;

(xxxix) "Verification on oath or affirmation", or "jurat" means a declaration, made by a principal on oath or affirmation before a notarial officer, that a statement in a record is true and that the record has been signed knowingly and willingly before the notarial officer for the purposes intended;

(xl) "This act" means W.S. 32-3-101 through 32-3-131.