Notary public laws are set by each state, but they share a common structure: rules on who can be commissioned, what acts a notary can perform, how signers must be identified, what records must be kept, what fees can be charged, and what conduct is off-limits. The framework exists to prevent fraud and to keep notaries acting as neutral witnesses rather than legal advisers. The core rules below apply broadly across the country, with the caveat that your state fills in the specific numbers and deadlines.
Who Can Become a Notary
Most states require applicants to be at least 18, legally authorized to reside or work in the commissioning state, and able to read and write in English. A clean enough criminal record is the other gate. Background checks focus on offenses involving dishonesty: forgery, fraud, embezzlement, and similar crimes. Felony convictions and certain misdemeanors within the preceding seven to ten years disqualify applicants in many jurisdictions, though each state draws its own line on what is too serious or too recent.
Roughly a third of states also require applicants to complete an education course, pass a written exam, or both before being commissioned. The exam typically covers the types of notarial acts, proper identification procedures, record-keeping obligations, and prohibited conduct. States that skip the exam usually still require applicants to demonstrate familiarity with notary law through a signed affirmation or a shorter training module.
Getting and Keeping a Commission
After confirming eligibility, you file a formal application with the Secretary of State or equivalent office. The filing fee usually runs between $20 and $100. Most states also require you to purchase a surety bond before the commission is issued, with bond amounts ranging from $500 to $50,000 depending on the state. A $10,000 bond is common.
Once approved, you take an oath of office, receive a certificate of appointment, and can purchase your official seal and journal. Commission terms vary. Four years is the most common length, but some states issue commissions for as few as two years and others for five years or longer. Miss your renewal deadline and you immediately lose the authority to notarize. Any document you notarize after expiration is invalid.
What Notarial Acts You’re Authorized to Perform
State law defines exactly which acts a notary can perform. Stepping outside them is one of the fastest ways to lose a commission. The core acts fall into a handful of categories.
- Acknowledgment. The signer appears before you and declares that they signed a document voluntarily and for its stated purpose. This is the most common notarial act, used for deeds, powers of attorney, and other recorded instruments.
- Jurat. The signer swears or affirms under penalty of perjury that the contents of a document are true, then signs it in front of you. Affidavits and sworn statements use jurats.
- Oath or affirmation. A verbal pledge of truthfulness, administered by the notary. Oaths invoke a higher power; affirmations are the secular equivalent. Both carry the same legal weight and the same perjury consequences for lying.
- Signature witnessing. You watch the signer put pen to paper in that moment. Unlike an acknowledgment, where the document may have been signed earlier, a witnessed signature must happen in real time in front of you.
- Copy certification. You compare a photocopy against the original and certify the copy is accurate. This one comes with significant limits.
Copy certification does not apply to every document. Notaries should decline to certify copies of vital records like birth or death certificates, public records filed with a government agency, Social Security cards, tax returns, or naturalization certificates. The official custodian of those records, whether the vital records office, the Social Security Administration, or the IRS, is the only authority that can issue certified copies. Some states also prohibit notaries from copying driver’s licenses or state ID cards. When in doubt, send the requester to the issuing agency.
Every notarial act requires you to complete a certificate on or attached to the document. That certificate records the date, location, type of act performed, and how you verified the signer’s identity. A missing or incomplete certificate can render the notarization defective.
Identifying the Signer
Verifying the signer’s identity is the notary’s single most important job. If you notarize a document for someone who isn’t who they claim to be, the entire point of the notarization collapses. The standard approach is for the signer to present a current government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license, passport, or state identification card, that includes their signature and a physical description or photograph the notary can match to the person in front of them.
When a signer lacks acceptable ID, many states allow a credible identifying witness as an alternative. This is someone who personally knows the signer and takes an oath before the notary vouching for the signer’s identity. The witness essentially serves as a human ID card. In some states, the notary must personally know the witness. Others allow two witnesses who know the signer, provided each witness presents valid photo identification. Either way, the witness cannot have a financial interest in the transaction and cannot be named as a party in the document. A family member might qualify as a credible witness if they have no stake in the deal, but a relative who stands to inherit under the document being notarized would not.
Regardless of the method used, the signer must appear before the notary in person at the time of the act. Personal appearance is the foundation of notary law. A notary who certifies a signature without the signer present has committed one of the most serious violations in the profession.
Seal, Journal, and Reporting a Lost Seal
Two tools are non-negotiable: an official seal and a record book, usually called a journal. The seal, whether a rubber stamp or a metal embosser, must include the notary’s name, the commissioning state, and the commission expiration date. Many states specify that stamp ink must be black or dark blue so it reproduces clearly on copies and scans. Any document you notarize without the seal is suspect.
The journal logs every notarial act performed during your commission. A proper entry captures the date and time, the type of act, a description of the document, the signer’s name and address, and the form of identification used. Not every state mandates a journal, but keeping one is considered a best practice everywhere because it creates an independent record you can point to if a notarization is ever challenged. States that do require journals typically mandate retention periods of five to ten years after the last entry, and some require you to surrender the journal to the commissioning authority when your term ends.
If your seal is lost or stolen, act fast. Report the loss to your Secretary of State’s office in writing, and if theft is involved, file a police report. A stolen seal in the wrong hands can be used to forge notarizations, so prompt reporting creates a paper trail that protects you if fraudulent documents surface later. Several states impose penalties for failing to report promptly.
What a Notary Can Charge
State law caps what a notary can charge for each act. Most states set the maximum somewhere between $2 and $15 per notarization for in-person services. A handful of states set no statutory cap at all, though market competition keeps fees reasonable even there. Remote online notarizations often carry a higher allowable fee, with some states permitting up to $25 or $30 per act to account for the technology costs involved.
These maximums are ceilings, not floors. You can always charge less, and many notaries at banks, libraries, or government offices notarize documents for free. Charging above the statutory maximum is a violation that can result in commission revocation. Travel fees for mobile notary services are usually separate and not subject to the same cap, though a few states regulate those too.
What a Notary Cannot Do
Give Legal Advice
The line between notarizing a document and practicing law trips up the most notaries. You cannot give legal advice, recommend which document a customer should use, explain the legal effect of a contract or deed, or help someone fill out legal forms. Your job is to verify identity and witness signatures. Notaries are not trained or licensed attorneys, and someone relying on a notary’s legal guidance is getting advice from an unqualified source. Violations can result in criminal misdemeanor charges, commission revocation, and civil liability to anyone harmed by the bad advice.
Notarize for Yourself or Close Relatives
A notary cannot notarize any document in which they have a direct financial interest or are named as a party. If you are the grantee on a deed, the beneficiary of a trust, or a co-signer on a loan, you cannot notarize that instrument. The same logic extends to family members. Many states list specific relatives by name, including spouse, parent, child, sibling, and often in-laws, step-relatives, and domestic partners. Even in states without an explicit family prohibition, notarizing for a relative creates an impartiality problem that can invalidate the document if challenged. If you benefit from the transaction in any way beyond your notary fee, decline the job.
Advertise as a “Notario Público”
In many Latin American countries, a “notario público” is a powerful legal professional, roughly equivalent to an attorney who can draft legal instruments and provide legal counsel. In the United States, a notary public has none of that authority. To prevent immigrants from being deceived into paying for legal services a notary cannot provide, most states prohibit notaries from using the term “notario público” or “notario” in advertising. Penalties range from mandatory commission suspension or revocation to civil fines, depending on the state.
Surety Bonds and E&O Insurance
Most states require a surety bond before you can be commissioned, but many notaries don’t fully understand what the bond does. The bond protects the public, not the notary. If you make an error that costs someone money, the injured party can file a claim against the bond. The bonding company pays out up to the bond amount and then demands reimbursement from you. You are ultimately on the hook.
Errors and omissions insurance works the other way. An E&O policy protects your personal assets by covering legal defense costs and claim payouts when you are sued over a notarial act. Unlike a bond claim, you do not have to reimburse the insurer. E&O coverage is voluntary in most states but worth serious consideration if you notarize regularly or handle high-value documents like real estate closings. Policies typically start around $30 to $50 per year for basic coverage and scale up for higher limits. Notary signing agents who handle mortgage loan packages routinely carry $100,000 or more in E&O coverage because the documents they oversee involve large sums of money and heightened fraud risk.
Remote Online Notarization
Remote online notarization, known as RON, allows a signer to appear before a notary over a live audio-video connection rather than in the same room. As of mid-2025, 44 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws permitting RON. The shift accelerated during the pandemic and has become a permanent feature of notary law in most of the country.
RON sessions carry stricter identity verification requirements than in-person notarizations. The signer typically must present a government-issued photo ID on camera, then pass credential analysis (automated software that checks the ID’s security features against known templates) and identity proofing (a process that confirms the person holding the ID is its true owner). Many states require knowledge-based authentication, which asks the signer to answer questions drawn from their credit history and public records. Biometric comparison using facial recognition is increasingly common as an alternative or supplement.
Every RON session must be recorded. State laws generally require the notary or the RON platform to retain the audio-video recording for five to ten years, creating a reviewable record that does not exist for in-person notarizations. That makes RON sessions harder to dispute and easier to audit than traditional notarizations.
Penalties for Breaking the Rules
Notary violations are not abstract. States enforce their notary laws through a range of consequences that escalate with the severity of the offense.
- Commission revocation. The commissioning authority can suspend or permanently revoke your commission for violations such as notarizing without the signer present, failing to properly identify a signer, or exceeding fee limits.
- Civil liability. Anyone harmed by a negligent or fraudulent notarization can sue you for damages. If you notarize a forged deed that leads to a property loss, you are personally exposed.
- Criminal charges. Knowingly certifying a false statement, notarizing when you know the signer’s identity is fake, or performing notarial acts after your commission expires can result in misdemeanor charges. Repeat offenses or acts committed with intent to defraud can be charged as felonies in some states.
- Bond claims. The injured party can file a claim against your surety bond, and you ultimately repay whatever the bonding company pays out.
The consequences hit hardest when a notary skips the basics: notarizing for a signer who isn’t physically present, failing to check ID, or rubberstamping documents without reading the certificate language. Those shortcuts feel harmless in the moment and become very expensive when a transaction is challenged. A thorough journal is the single best defense if your work is ever questioned, because it creates contemporaneous evidence of exactly what you did and how you verified identity at the time.