Request By:
Captain Tod I. Zuckerman
Legal Assistance Officer/JAGC
HQ U.S. Army Armor Center and Fort Knox
Fort Knox, Kentucky 40121
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: William L. Davis, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your letter dated October 4, 1982, and to your telephone request on November 3, 1982. You requested an Attorney General's opinion on the following:
1. Is there a provision under Kentucky Revised Statute, Section 423.110, or any other statute, that permits commissioned officers to take acknowledgments, oaths, and sworn instruments of spouses or other dependents or service members, who are within the limits of Kentucky?
2. Can an enlisted legal clerk be a notary public under Kentucky law?
KRS 384.080 provides that instruments may be acknowledged and other notarial acts performed before or by any commissioned officer in the active service of the Armed Forces of the United States for any person who either "(a) is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, or (b) is serving as a merchant seaman outside the limits of the United States, or (c) is outside said limits by permission, assignment or direction of any department or official of the United States government." KRS 423.110(4) provides that a commissioned officer in active service with the Armed Forces of the United States and any other person authorized by regulation of the Armed Forces to perform notarial acts may perform them outside this state for use in the state with the same effect as if performed by a notary public of this state if the notarial acts are performed for one of the following or his dependents: "a merchant seaman of the United States, a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, or any other person serving with or accompanying the Armed Forces of the United States." Moreover, it is a primary rule of statutory construction that the enumeration of particular things excludes the idea of something else not mentioned. Smith v. Wedding, Ky., 303 S.W.2d 322, 323 (1957).
Therefore, it is our opinion that Kentucky law does not permit commissioned officers or enlisted personnel to take acknowledgments or perform other notarial acts for spouses or other dependents of military personnel who are within the limits of kentucky. However, it is our opinion that commissioned officers and enlisted personnel may be appointed as notaries public by the Kentucky Secretary of State if they meet the requirements of KRS 423.010.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if we may be of further assistance.