One Document to the Crazy House

One Document to the Crazy House

OK, if you have been reading my blogs, you will know that we are in the middle of getting ready to move to Ecuador.  There are some documents that we must present when we apply to for our Pension Residency.  The first step is all these documents must be new certified documents; we need birth and marriage certificates.  These certified papers then are sent to the Secretary of State, the state which issued them, to be Apostilled.  We did receive these three documents without any real problems, just time consuming.  We had to include a self-addressed envelope for the Apostilled document to be returned to us.  Well, one return envelope went out without a stamp on it.  Opps, that took a week to fix that mistake.

Now, the one document that will surely drive me to the crazy house is the statement of pension.  We have to prove to the Ecuadorian government that Ed has Social Security.  We didn't really see where this was document going to be any real problem.  Ed applied for a Verification Letter of Benefits from the Social Security website.  

We had researched on what we needed to do with the Verification Letter.  It needed to be notarized and then Apostilled by the state of Florida.  That didn't seem difficult, again just time consuming by doing things through the mail system.

Now, the problem began when the Verification Letter of Benefits arrived on August 2nd, the day before Ed was departing for Montana and would not be home until the 28th. 

I call the Tampa Social Security office right way to find out if we could come in that afternoon or I could I do it the following day.  I was told right off that Ed was the only person that could deal with his Verification Letter.  They would not even talk to me about it.  We could not go in that afternoon because we needed the Letter to be notarized and the office didn't have a notary.  This really couldn't wait until Ed returned home.

Think, think....how can this get done.... I called the Social Security office in Helena, Montana and asked if Ed came into their office could we get this notarized.  They told me that he would have to bring in his own notary.  That didn't seem like a big deal.  Our daughter-in-law is a mobile Notary in Ohio and I knew that I could find one in Helena.  This was looking good.  I did located a mobile notary in Helena.  I talke with her and set up the appointment that to meet Ed in the Social Security Office on Aug. 14 at 10am - appointment set!  

The next step was after Ed got the Social Security Letter of Verification notarized, Ed would deliver it to the Security of State in Helena.  That office would then Apostille it for him.  This document would then be sent Fed-Ex to me.  I would then take over what was still needed to be done.

Well, the plan was sound and appointments all set up for Ed.  It seemed fool proof....WRONG!   The mobile notary never showed up at 10:am.  When, Ed called her she could not remember even talking to me nor the appointment.  She was at the beauty shop but was able to make the appointment 40 minutes later.  I had suggest that Ed phone her the night before but he didn't remember that conversation with me! 

Ed then goes to the Secretary of State for the next step.  He was apprehensive after the flaky notary experience.  Well, the lady in the Secretary of State's office could not have been more helpful.  She personally made sure the document went out in Fed-Ex that night and called Ed when she got confirmation of delivery.  

Now the document hand-off was completed.  It was now my turn to pick it up & run with it....

My job is to have the Verification Letter translated into Spanish and notarized.  So, first I have to find a bi-lingual Notary, that should be easy in Tampa!  I found one in Sarasota and two in Tampa.  I called all three and only got their voice mail.  I left a detailed message of what I needed and only one phoned me back.  She told me that I would have to go to a translator and have the document translated and then she could notarize it at their office.  I'm still waiting for the calls from the other two notaries - that was three days ago.  Do these people not want the business OR are they so busy that they don't need to return my call????

I just know there had to be more bi-lingual notaries in this area than what is listed.  I phoned the Secretary of State in Florida.  I talked to the office that does the licensing for all notaries in the State.  I thought for sure they could provide me with a list.  No, they have no filing system that allows them to know if a notary is bi-lingual.  That was a dead end.  So, here I sit in a state that might have more Spanish speaking citizens than any other and I can not find anyone to translate this document!

So, guess what is on my schedule for next week.... getting this Verification Letter translated and notarized....I might go crazy but it will get done before Ed comes home!

Peggy