I believe that Kevin is correct.  You have to look at each State's Notary Laws and if this transaction was in California,  the issue is "direct" or indirect" financial interest and whether or not the Notary was "named" in the doc.
It doesn't sound like the Notary was named in the doc and the Notary has no direct financial interest in the document/transaction.  It wouldn't be any different if I was to notarize my parent's refi -- as long as I wasn't named in the title (by name or by other means such as a benficiary of their trust and the property was in trust),  I could do it legally. 

Kelly Robertson, LSA Coach, http://www.LoanSigner101.com