Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco

Remote Technology and Notary Dolores Fickenscher Are Transforming Document Authentication

Bob Blaisse

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Remote Technology And Notary Dolores Fickenscher Are Transforming Document Authentication

The digital revolution continues to transform unexpected corners of our daily lives, and this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast reveals how notary services have undergone a fascinating evolution. Listen to Host Bob Blaisse interview Dolores Fickenscher, the Public Notary Founder of Quill Notary and Apostille Agent, who unveils the surprisingly accessible world of remote notarization.
 
If you have ever wondered how documents get legally verified when parties are miles, states or continents apart, Dolores has sophisticated yet user-friendly technology that makes it possible. Using secure platforms, identity verification happens through camera validation of ID cards' embedded security features, and facial recognition that maps and matches the signer’s unique features. The document signer can actually be anywhere in the world and get their documents notarized by Dolores, remotely using secure technology now adopted by all U.S. states and most foreign countries' apostille services, which serves international document authentication to validate documents for use in all countries participating in the Hague Convention. 

You'll learn how all manner of documents, from bill of sales and power of attorney documents, to vehicle titles, incorporation and tax documents and even pre- and post-nuptial agreements are served by Dolores Fickenscher's remote notary services.  So whether you're an attorney with relocated clients, a business with international operations or simply someone needing document authentication without the hassle of travel, this episode illuminates a service that combines technological innovation with practical necessity. 

Quill Notary and Apostille Agent
 QuillNotary.net
 facebook.com/quillnotary
 484-682-6199

--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond... The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.

Welcome to Good Neighbor Podcast

Speaker 1

Hello, delco. This is Michael Barkan, welcoming you to the Good Neighbor podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host Bob Blasey.

Introducing Quill Notary and Apostille Service

Speaker 2

Thank you, neighbor. Thank you, michael Barkan, for that introduction. Yes, my name is Bob Blasey and I'm once again here coming to you for the Good Neighbor podcast that you've listened to in the past, and this episode will be kind of different, something new we have not done in the past, bringing to you another good neighbor business, but a different type that we've not talked about before. If you're new to the podcast, you may be interested in knowing that we're coming to you from Pennsylvania in the United States, and actually the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, delaware County, pennsylvania. It's the southeast corner, right there, just north of the state of Delaware and west of the state of New Jersey, where we're the southeast, most corner county in all 67 counties of Pennsylvania. So Philadelphia metro area, just below the city of Philadelphia and really a very densely populated small geography county that we lovingly refer to as Delco, short for Delaware County. So the Good Neighbor podcast, coming to you from Delaware County and going beyond, is intended to bring good neighbor businesses to you, and today we're going to introduce a different kind of a business, something that we know of well, but it's got a different kind of a twist to it. So let me bring the owner, the founder of Quill Notary and Apostille Service, dolores Flickinger.

Speaker 2

Dolores, welcome to the program. Hey, great to be here, thanks Bob.

Speaker 3

Well, dolores, thank you for being here. Hey, great to be here. Thanks Bob.

Speaker 2

Well, dolores, thank you for being here, and it's fun because we're doing this podcast remote. Those who are listening may not be aware that we're not together. We're seeing ourselves here in an online studio, but that's not new to you. You're part of your business and it is kind of a remote business.

Speaker 2

But first let's just talk a little bit about the fact that your business is a notary service a notary service and an apostille service and we're going to have to define that because there's listeners who are wondering what that means. Now we know that a notary service, often in states, and certainly like Pennsylvania, there needs to be third party documentation, signing documents. That was really your signature, or you're really you, or you really are someone that has a social security number or something like that, but it's validation. It's really what a notary public is, but your business is that and more. Give us an idea what your specialties are when it comes to being a notary public, being an apostille. Tell us what that is and then also how you're quite different because of being able to offer remote services.

How Virtual Notarization Works

Speaker 3

Okay, well, yeah, I mean, there's a lot to being a notary. There's a lot of different avenues. You can take your notary business and I chose to go virtual, so the signers can actually be anywhere in the world and get your documents notarized virtually Similar, you know, to like a Zoom meeting. Everybody remembers those from COVID, but they are on secured platforms.

Speaker 2

So the platform is secure and of course you're seeing each other and it looks all honest, but how does the security work for the true documentation that this really is Like? In other words, whenever I've been to a notary, I have to show them my driver's license or something like that. Are they holding it up to the screen to you?

Speaker 3

Yeah, in order to validate, there's different ways to validate. Here in Pennsylvania we hold the ID up to the camera, so you just literally hold it up, you flip it to the back and it reads the back. That could either be a driver's license, a state ID, a passport all those types of documents work and then it reads the embedded protections in that document and then, once that gets accepted, you do what's similar to a selfie and the camera reads and maps the uniqueness of your face. It matches it to your ID. Once all that gets validated and passes all those tests, we just sign the documents electronically. It's an electronic signature.

Speaker 2

Wow, I mean, this is different. I have to think, dolores, that a lot of people are unfamiliar with this being possible, that they think they have to go somewhere, track this need down, and they're being told they have to get this done. Who do I go see? You're actually able to do it remote, I mean you can go see them, I guess, but you've got me on this. You would need to ask another question about this, though. I mean, sometimes, when I've been at a notary, they'll say, all right, let me have this paper and that paper, and you know they take photocopies of it. They need photocopies of what I have. Is it all done visually, or is your system actually uploading certain documents to your clients? Do they? Do they have to upload things to give to you other than just hold them up to the camera, or is it that simple?

Speaker 3

Well, the document. Actually, I prefer to have the document sent to me prior to the session. That way I can take a look at it, make sure it's compliant for Pennsylvania, and then I upload the document To me. It's a convenience that I offer my signers to upload the document for them, and when I meet them in session, the signatures again are electronic. The technology for remote notarizations have been around since 2012.

Speaker 2

Wow.

Speaker 3

The technology has been around, but it was not legal in all states.

Understanding Apostille Services

Speaker 2

And when you say the technology, so that was a question that I think was in the minds of some of our listeners. We're talking about technology that itself is validated or protected or secure. It's not homegrown technology that notary people like you are making themselves. So you're subscribing to some kind of infrastructure online tool is is already certified by, in this case, say, the state of Pennsylvania.

Speaker 3

Yes, absolutely. There's hundreds of platforms out there that notaries can use. However, all the platforms are not approved in every state, so Pennsylvania gives me a specific list of the platforms that they approve.

Speaker 2

And as long as you have that platform, you're making that available to your clients and you're both getting the benefit of being remote from each other. They don't have to come to you. Gee, that really opens up the door here. Dolores, I mean a lot of times when I'm talking to a good neighbor business on the Good Neighbor podcast and they're from Delaware County, pennsylvania, they're not putting a roof on in Montana or something like that. But I mean we're going to have listeners of this podcast that find our podcast on Buzzsprout and Apple and Spotify and YouTube. We're going to find people that are thinking, gee, I wonder if she can help me. Are you able to help clients all around the country?

Speaker 3

all around the country and the world.

Speaker 2

I've had, I've had signers, you know, in many different countries around the world well, let's talk about that, because I think that that when I when I saw that the name of your business was, you know, notary, and you know it was we're talking to Dolores Flickenshire, by the way, who is the founder and owner of Quill Notary and Apostolate Service Now, now, that word is a little unusual, I had to kind of remember what it means. But that that's really where it does get international Correct, correct. Tell us a little bit about what that service is.

Who Needs Notary Services

Speaker 3

The Epastil service. That is for documents that need to be used outside the country. So what happens is I would notarize the document, I am validating my signer's signature, and then that document goes to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State validates my signature that my commission is in good standing with the state of Pennsylvania and that in turn means that that document will then be accepted in a foreign country.

Speaker 2

And then you have those documents available, or do they have to come with those documents?

Speaker 3

Yes, Well, it's just, it's any document you can have. You know, like a POA, you can have a, a consent to travel, If they have a manufacturing plant here and that manufacturing plant needs to be inspected and then they send their product to a foreign country. That inspection certificate needs to be notarized, apostilled, in order for it to be accepted in that foreign country with their product.

Speaker 2

So these countries have gotten together and they've said like we have to have a common ground for the certification. So let's all agree that this is what the seal like a notary seal version for international documents.

Speaker 3

You're really getting into it because, yes, these countries are all part of the Hague Convention. So not every country in the world is part of the Hague Convention. So not every country in the world is part of the Hague Convention.

Speaker 2

And not every person is really ever going to be needing foreign documents. Most people that are your clients probably are looking at local things. Now tell me, the only time I've ever really had to, you know, get something signed was for you know and notarized. It had to do with you know, maybe a living will for parents, or you know something related to handing over a title of a car or something I mean on the low end of what your services are for the majority of people, I suppose. Do you handle things related to automobiles or do you handle things related to do you work for lawyers who actually need things done remotely? Tell us about that. So your clients are not just individuals that need your remote services, but really businesses that often use and often need notaries, but maybe between themselves and another party, and they're bringing you into the conversation for the remotability.

Speaker 3

Yeah, attorneys are big clients, a lot of them. They have local clients, but sometimes they have a local client that moved and they still, you know, are trusting that same attorney, so they stay with that and that's where a virtual notarization comes in handy. Yeah, it's, there's a lot of businesses, companies, individuals, all you never know you need a notary until you need a notary.

Contact Information and Episode Closing

Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean, I'm learning a lot and I think that everybody here is learning. Everybody listening right now is learning a lot. If you would like to learn a little more and even get a chance to talk to Dolores Flippinger directly, let me provide her phone number for you. She had given permission for this. So if you'd like to talk to Dolores, if you need notary services or you know apostille services, you can get it from Dolores remotely and you can learn, like we're learning right now. Dolores can be reached by phone at 484-682-6199. If you'd like to contact her by email, well, go to her website, which is probably the easiest way to do it, which is quillnotarynet, and there's a form there that you can fill out and Dolores will be in contact with you. Or if you'd like to email her directly, her simple email is just quillnotaryllc at gmailcom dot com. Dolores Flickinger are really in-house notary now because she can be our remote source for any kind of documents that we need to have notarized for any possible reason. Now, if I can, then Dolores, if you wouldn't mind.

Speaker 2

We've talked about a number of things the international needs and certainly the local stuff but I don't think people even have any idea. I looked at your website that are examples of what might be notarized. And listeners, I'm not kidding you. There is probably, I would say, at least 50, if not more, of circumstances that you know. Every one of these that you hear you would say, oh, I get it.

Speaker 2

Separation agreements or a simple will or something like that. You know, maybe it's a marriage license application or some kind of a deed. You know it's some kind of a notice that somebody is quitting something. Or you know you wanted to have a third party actually involved in the estate plan, that it needs to be notarized, loan agreements. I mean, you could go on and on and on. You should look at this list. It's quillnotarynet if you'd like to learn more about um dolores flickenshire, her remote um notary and and apostille service, but also um in the delaware county area, if needed, dolores you, you, if it's a senior citizen and they're there, they don't even have a third like a son or a daughter can work with them. Will you actually travel to some degree to someone's home to help them?

Speaker 3

Yes, yes, I do travel locally here in Delaware, county.

Speaker 2

Well, that's wonderful. I, dolores, I have to say you are of all of our businesses that we ever have. I mean the fact that you're remote. The service is absolutely needed and you sound like a lovely person that can help us and teach us in the process of helping us. I have to say thank you very much for coming on the episode here today for the Good Neighbor podcast. What a good neighbor business you have and everybody keep that in mind. Quillnotarynet Laura's looking for her business. Quill Notary and Apostille Service. Laris, it's been wonderful to get to know you. I have a feeling that we're going to become clients of each other.

Speaker 3

Oh, that would be great. Thanks, bob, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan inviting everyone to get on the Good Neighbor team. Nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to gnpdelcocom or by calling Bob at 610-557-3745.