How long you have to keep a notary journal depends on your state, but the retention window generally runs from five to ten years after the final entry recorded in that book. Notary law is set state by state, so there is no single national rule, and the commissioning authority in your state, usually the Secretary of State’s office, publishes the exact number that applies to you.
The Clock Starts at the Last Entry
Retention is measured from the date of the last notarial act you recorded in the journal, not from the date your commission expires. The two can be years apart. A notary might finish a journal early in a commission term and still be using the same commission long after that book is closed, and the retention period for that closed book begins the day of its final entry.
This matters because it is easy to assume the obligation ends when your authority to notarize ends. It does not. A journal you filled eight years into a ten-year commission could still owe you several more years of safekeeping after you stop notarizing entirely.
Common Retention Periods by State
State requirements tend to fall into a few tiers:
- Ten years. Several states, including New York, require former notaries to keep journals for a full decade after the last entry. Ten years is also the period many states apply to electronic notary journals.
- Seven years. A smaller group, such as Massachusetts, sets seven-year retention.
- Five years. Some states use a shorter five-year window, particularly for records of remote online notarizations.
Not every state specifies a number. Where the statute is silent, keeping journals for at least ten years is the widely recommended default, because real estate transactions and estate matters routinely raise questions well past a five-year horizon, and the journal is often the only independent record that a notarization happened and how the signer was identified.
Remote Online Notarization Adds a Recording
If you perform remote online notarizations, you have more than a journal to retain. Most states that authorize remote notarization require an electronic journal for those transactions and also require you to keep the audio-video recording of each session. Model legislation recommends ten years for both the electronic journal and the recording; some states have adopted shorter windows of five or seven years.
Many states allow you to designate a third-party repository or custodian to store the recordings and electronic journal entries on your behalf. That is a practical necessity given the storage footprint of years of video. If you do both in-person and remote work, check whether your state wants separate journals and whether the retention periods differ between them. They often do.
What to Do When Your Commission Ends
Retention does not always mean keeping the journal yourself. In many states, when your commission expires, is revoked, or you resign, you are required to physically deliver all completed journals to a designated public office, typically the county clerk where your oath of office was filed. Keeping the journal at home is not enough in those jurisdictions.
The deadline for delivery is commonly 30 days from the end of your commission. Missing it is treated seriously. In states with the strictest rules, willful failure to turn over the journal is a misdemeanor, and you can be held personally liable for damages someone suffers because the records were not available when needed.
One point that trips people up: the journal belongs to the notary, not the employer. Even if your employer bought the journal and every notarization was part of your job, the book is your personal property. When you leave the job, the journal leaves with you. Your employer may inspect and copy entries related to their business, but only in your presence.
If the Notary Dies
When a commissioned notary dies, delivery becomes the responsibility of the personal representative, executor, or guardian. The timeframe is typically longer than the standard 30 days to allow for estate administration, but whoever is settling the notary’s affairs should contact the state commissioning authority promptly. Failure to deliver can result in fines against the estate.
If a Journal Is Lost or Stolen During the Retention Period
A missing journal potentially exposes every signer in it to fraud, so states take reporting seriously. If your journal is lost, stolen, or destroyed, notify your state’s commissioning authority promptly. Some states require written notice by certified mail within a short window, sometimes as few as ten days after you discover the loss.
The notice generally needs to include your name, commission number, commission expiration date, and the date range of entries in the missing journal. If the journal was stolen, file a police report; some states require a copy of the report to accompany your notification. Penalties for failing to report can include civil fines and suspension or revocation of your commission, and the larger risk is personal liability if a signer’s identity is compromised because of a theft you never disclosed.
Who Can See the Journal While You Hold It
Retention is not quiet storage. Courts can compel you to produce journal entries by subpoena, and you may have to provide certified copies of specific entries and appear to authenticate them. Law enforcement officers investigating a crime can request immediate access if they have reasonable suspicion the journal contains evidence. Members of the public who were parties to a notarized transaction can generally request a copy of their own entry, and states that cap the fee for certified copies typically set it between a few cents per page and around ten dollars per entry.
That ongoing exposure is part of why retention periods are long. Destroying a journal early, before the statutory window closes, creates a problem for you and for everyone whose transaction it recorded.
Destroying the Journal Once Retention Ends
After the retention period passes, and assuming no law requires you to hand the journal to a public office, you can destroy it. You cannot simply throw it out. The book is full of names, signatures, and identification details, and a careless disposal exposes signers to identity theft and you to liability.
Destroy the journal so entries cannot be read or reassembled. Cross-cut shredding or incineration are the standard methods; strip-cut shredding is not sufficient because strips can be reconstructed. For an electronic journal, use a secure data wipe or physically destroy the storage device. Keep a personal note of the destruction date and the date range of the entries, in case anyone asks later.