To write a letter that needs to be notarized, draft it with the full legal names and addresses of everyone involved, state its purpose in plain language, fill in every blank, leave several inches of space at the bottom for the notary’s certificate and seal, and do not sign it until you are in front of the notary. The notary will not read your letter for you or fix its contents; their job is to verify your identity, witness your signature, and attach a short block of certificate language. Everything else is on you to get right before the appointment.
Write the Body of the Letter
Put the date near the top. Then write the full legal names and addresses of everyone involved, using names exactly as they appear on the government-issued ID you plan to bring. If your license says “Katherine” and the letter says “Kate,” the notary may flag the mismatch, and the receiving institution almost certainly will.
State the purpose of the letter directly. If it is an affidavit, include a statement that you are swearing the contents are true and accurate to the best of your knowledge. If you are authorizing someone to act on your behalf, spell out exactly what they can and cannot do. Vague language invites challenges later.
Fill in every blank before the appointment. No empty lines for dollar amounts, dates, or names. Many states prohibit notaries from notarizing incomplete documents because blank spaces create fraud risk: someone could write in a different number after the seal is applied, and you would have no practical way to dispute it. If a field genuinely does not apply, write “N/A” rather than leaving it open.
Leave at least three to four inches of white space at the bottom of the last page. The notary needs room for their signature, official seal, and the certificate language. If the letter runs to the edge of the page, the notary will have to attach a separate certificate page, which adds a step and sometimes prompts the receiving institution to ask whether the certificate was swapped.
Add the Right Notarial Certificate
Every notarized letter needs a notarial certificate, which is a short block of standardized legal language describing what the notary did. The two common types are the acknowledgment and the jurat, and choosing the wrong one is one of the fastest ways to have a document rejected.
Use an acknowledgment when the signer needs to confirm that they signed the document voluntarily. The notary verifies the signer’s identity but does not certify that the contents are true. Acknowledgments appear on deeds, powers of attorney, and most contracts. The signer may sign ahead of time and simply acknowledge the signature at the appointment.
Use a jurat when the signer must swear or affirm, under penalty of perjury, that the contents are true. The notary must physically watch the signer sign. Jurats appear on affidavits, sworn statements, and any letter where truthfulness is the point. If your letter contains language like “I swear under penalty of perjury,” it needs a jurat.
The exact wording for each certificate type is set by state law and must be followed precisely. Your state’s Secretary of State website publishes the current approved language. Copy it exactly, including the venue line (state and county), and leave space for the notary to fill in their information. Outdated wording or language borrowed from a different state is a common reason institutions reject documents.
If you are not sure which certificate to use, call the bank, court, or agency that will receive the letter and ask which notarial act they require. Five minutes on the phone saves a second trip to the notary.
Do Not Sign Before Your Appointment
People draft the letter at home, sign it, and bring it to the notary expecting a quick stamp. For a jurat, that signature is worthless. The whole point of a jurat is that the notary watches you sign and administers an oath. If you have already signed, the notary will either refuse the document or make you sign again in their presence.
For an acknowledgment you technically can sign ahead of time and then acknowledge the signature at the appointment. But unless you are certain the document calls for an acknowledgment and not a jurat, the safest approach is to wait. Bring the letter unsigned and let the notary tell you when to sign.
What Happens at the Appointment
Bring a current, valid government-issued photo ID: a driver’s license, state ID card, or passport. The notary will compare the name and photo on the ID to you and to the name on the letter. An expired ID will usually be refused.
Beyond checking identification, the notary must determine that you are signing voluntarily and that you understand what the document says. This is not a formality. If you seem confused about the letter’s contents, appear to be under pressure from someone in the room, or cannot answer basic questions about the document, the notary should decline. Notaries who skip this step expose both you and themselves to liability.
Once identity and willingness are established, the notary will tell you to sign. For a jurat, you will also take an oath or affirmation that the contents are truthful. The notary then completes the certificate by adding their own signature and applying their seal or stamp, which typically shows the notary’s name, commission number, commission expiration date, and the state of commission. Glance at the expiration date before you leave; a notarization performed by a notary whose commission has lapsed can invalidate the entire document.
Many states also require the notary to record the transaction in a journal, noting the date, time, type of notarial act, the identification you presented, and a description of the document. Roughly half of all states mandate journal-keeping for in-person notarizations, with additional states requiring it for remote sessions.
Mistakes That Get Notarized Letters Rejected
Even a properly notarized letter can be bounced by the recipient. Most rejections come down to a short list of preventable errors:
- Name mismatch between your ID and the document. Middle names, suffixes, maiden names, and spelling variations all cause problems.
- Wrong certificate type. Submitting an acknowledgment when the recipient requires a jurat, or the reverse.
- Missing or incomplete certificate information. A certificate without the venue (state and county), the notary’s signature, the seal, or the correct date will be rejected.
- Blank spaces anywhere in the document. Unfilled fields signal potential tampering.
- Illegible notary seal. If the stamp is smudged or the commission information cannot be read, the document may come back. You can ask the notary to re-stamp if the impression looks unclear.
- Expired notary commission.
One less obvious pitfall: the receiving agency may have stricter requirements than state law. A county recorder, for instance, might require specific paper sizes or refuse remote online notarizations even though your state permits them. Ask the recipient about formatting and notarization preferences before your appointment.
When the Letter Also Needs Witnesses
Some documents require independent witnesses in addition to notarization. Wills, powers of attorney, deeds, and advance directives frequently carry witness requirements depending on the state. Witnesses sign the document to confirm they saw the primary signer execute it.
A common question is whether the notary can double as a witness. The safe answer is no. A few states allow it in limited circumstances, but most either prohibit it or discourage it because it creates a conflict of interest. Bring separate people as witnesses, and make sure they carry their own valid photo IDs in case their signatures also need to be notarized. Check your state’s requirements before the appointment so you do not arrive short-handed.
Two Limits Worth Knowing
If the letter is going to another country, notarization alone is usually not enough. You will typically need an apostille, which is an additional certification. For federal documents the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications issues apostille certificates for countries that participate in the 1961 Hague Convention; you submit Form DS-4194 with the notarized document and applicable fees, and processing runs roughly two to five weeks by mail or about two weeks for walk-in submissions, with same-day service available only in life-or-death emergencies.1U.S. Department of State. Office of Authentications For state-level documents the apostille usually comes from your state’s Secretary of State. If the destination country is not part of the Hague Convention, you will need consular authentication through that country’s embassy or consulate instead.
Notaries also cannot certify copies of vital records such as birth certificates, death certificates, or marriage certificates. If you need a certified copy of one of these, request it directly from the government agency that issued the original. Bringing a birth certificate to a notary and asking them to certify it as a true copy will get you turned away in every state.