To dispose of an expired notary stamp, destroy the die so it can no longer produce a legible impression, or surrender the seal to the office your state designates. Which path applies depends on where you were commissioned, so confirm your state’s rule before you pick up the scissors.
Why an Intact Stamp Is a Problem
A discarded seal in the wrong hands is a tool for forging notarizations on deeds, powers of attorney, loan documents, and wills. The risk runs back to you personally. If fraudulent documents carry your name and commission number, you can be pulled into litigation even though you had nothing to do with the notarization. In some states, a notary who failed to destroy or secure a seal after their commission ended can face separate penalties for that failure alone. Destroying the stamp shuts the risk down at the source.
When the Duty Kicks In
Expiration is the most common trigger, but not the only one. A stamp should never exist in usable form once it no longer matches a valid, active commission. The situations that require you to destroy or surrender the seal include:
- Your commission expires and you do not renew.
- You resign before the term ends.
- Your commission is revoked.
- You renew and receive a new stamp with updated commission dates; the old one goes.
- You obtain a new stamp reflecting a legal name change.
- The notary dies, in which case the personal representative, executor, or anyone in possession of the stamp is responsible for rendering it unusable.
Check Your State Before You Do Anything
Notary law is state law, and the rules differ in ways that matter. Some states tell you to destroy the stamp yourself. Others require you to mail or deliver it to the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, or another designated office within a set number of days. A few give you a choice. A handful set surrender deadlines that range from about 30 to 90 days after the commission ends.
Start with your state’s Secretary of State website, or whichever agency issued your commission. Most maintain a notary handbook or FAQ that spells out end-of-commission obligations. If the page is not clear, call the notary division and ask two questions: destroy or return, and is any paperwork required to confirm the disposal. States that have adopted the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts share a baseline requirement to disable the stamping device by destroying, defacing, or otherwise securing it against use, but local additions and timeframes vary, so the statute in your state controls.
If your state requires surrender, do not destroy the stamp first. Sending a mangled seal to an office that expected an intact one creates avoidable complications. Follow the specific instructions, including any required cover letter or form.
Destroying a Rubber or Self-Inking Stamp
The part that matters is the rubber die, the piece that actually transfers your name, commission number, and expiration date onto paper. Everything else is housing.
For a self-inking stamp, release the rubber die from its frame. Most mechanisms have a latch or clip. Once the die is free, cut it into small pieces with scissors or a utility knife. Cut both horizontally and vertically through the text so that no fragment holds enough legible information to reconstruct the impression. Some notaries split the fragments across separate trash bags as an extra precaution, though most state rules simply require that the die be rendered unusable.
Traditional rubber stamps mounted on a wooden or plastic handle are simpler. Peel or cut the rubber away from the mount and shred it the same way. No fragment should contain a readable name, number, or date.
Destroying an Embosser
Metal embossers take more effort because scissors will not cut the die. Remove the embossing plate from the body of the tool; on most desk-style embossers, the plates are held in place by screws or a retaining clip. Once the plate is out, use a hammer on a hard surface to flatten or deform the raised characters. A metal file grinds down the text until it is illegible. Pliers can bend the plate in half. The standard is the same as for rubber: no one should be able to produce a recognizable impression from what is left.
If the embosser does not come apart easily, clamp the whole device in a vise and file the die face directly. The housing does not matter. Focus on the plate surface that carries your commission information.
Document What You Did
Even where your state does not explicitly require documentation, a short record protects you if questions come up later. Write down the date you destroyed the stamp, the method, and the reason (expiration, resignation, renewal, revocation, name change). A photograph of the destroyed pieces before you discard them gives you visual proof that the die was rendered unusable.
Keep the record with your notary journal or in whatever file you maintain for your commission paperwork. If your state requires you to notify the commissioning authority that the stamp has been destroyed, send that notification promptly and keep a copy of whatever you submit.
If Your Stamp Is Lost or Stolen
You cannot destroy a stamp you do not have, and that is exactly the risk the disposal rules exist to prevent. If your seal goes missing, most states require you to notify your commissioning authority in writing as soon as you discover it. The notification typically needs to include your commission name, commission number, and the circumstances of the loss.
If the stamp was stolen, file a police report and include a copy with the written notification to the state. That creates an official record that the seal left your possession involuntarily, which matters if it is later used to forge documents. The reporting obligation in most states is immediate or within a very short window, so do not wait to see if the stamp turns up. If your commission is still active, you will likely need to obtain a replacement seal after reporting the loss.
The Journal Is a Separate Question
Your stamp is not the only thing that needs attention when your commission ends. The journal you used to record notarial acts contains sensitive information about every person who appeared before you, and disposal rules for it are different.
Some states require you to surrender the journal to a government office, typically the county clerk, recorder of deeds, or Secretary of State, within a set period after your commission ends. Thirty days is a common deadline, though it varies. Other states let you keep the journal yourself but require you to hold it for a specified number of years, often somewhere between three and ten, and to notify the commissioning authority of where it is stored.
Do not destroy your journal unless your state explicitly permits it after the retention period. Journals are legal records, and disposing of one prematurely can create problems if a notarized document is later challenged and the entry is needed as evidence.
Electronic and Digital Seals
If you held a commission for remote online notarization or electronic notarization, you likely used a digital seal or certificate rather than a physical stamp. The concept is the same; the method differs. Delete the electronic seal file from your computer and any backup locations. If the digital certificate was issued through a third-party provider or technology platform, contact them to deactivate or revoke it. Letting a digital certificate expire without affirmatively removing it from your devices is not the same as destroying it, because the file can still be extracted and misused.
States with remote online notarization programs are still developing their disposal rules for electronic seals, and the requirements may be less detailed than those for physical stamps. Check your state’s electronic notarization statutes or regulations. If the rules are silent, treat the electronic seal the way your state treats a physical one and render it permanently unusable as soon as your commission ends.