The four main types of notarial acts are acknowledgments, jurats, copy certifications, and signature witnessings. Each one answers a different question. An acknowledgment confirms a person signed willingly. A jurat puts the signer under oath that the document’s contents are true. A copy certification verifies a photocopy matches its original. A signature witnessing proves a particular person signed on a particular date. Picking the wrong act is a common reason paperwork gets rejected, so the first job is matching the act to what the document actually needs.
Acknowledgments
An acknowledgment answers one question: did this person sign this document willingly? The signer appears before the notary, proves their identity, and declares that the signature is their own free act. The notary is not vouching for anything in the document. The notary is confirming that the right person signed and wasn’t coerced.
A detail that surprises people: the signer does not have to sign in front of the notary. The document can be pre-signed. What matters is that the signer personally appears and acknowledges the signature as theirs. That is one of the clearest contrasts with a jurat, where the signing has to happen while the notary watches.
Acknowledgments show up constantly in real estate transactions, powers of attorney, and trust documents. County recorders and registrars of deeds routinely require acknowledged signatures before accepting a filing. A deed or mortgage that arrives without a proper acknowledgment gets sent back.
Part of the notary’s job during an acknowledgment is making a reasonable judgment that the signer understands what they’re signing and isn’t being pressured. If the signer appears confused or can’t identify the document, the notary has grounds to refuse. If a family member or caregiver seems to be steering the signer, the notary can ask that person to step out and speak with the signer privately.
Jurats
A jurat goes further than an acknowledgment. The signer takes a verbal oath or affirmation that the contents of the document are true, then signs in the notary’s physical presence. Both pieces are required: the oath and the witnessed signature. If someone arrives with a document already signed, the notary should have them cross out the earlier signature and sign again while the notary watches.
The notary administers the oath by asking something like: “Do you swear that the statements in this document are true?” The signer answers affirmatively, and only then does the notary complete the certificate. That verbal exchange is what creates legal exposure for the signer. Once you’ve sworn an oath that a document is true, making a false statement in it is perjury.
Federal law treats perjury seriously. Under the general perjury statute, anyone who willfully states something they don’t believe to be true after taking an oath faces a fine, up to five years in prison, or both.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1621 – Perjury Generally State perjury statutes carry their own penalties. Jurats are standard for affidavits, sworn statements filed with courts, and depositions where the accuracy of the content is the whole point.
Oath Versus Affirmation
An oath and an affirmation carry identical legal weight. The difference is religious reference: an oath invokes a higher power (“so help you God”), while an affirmation is a solemn pledge on personal honor with no religious language. Federal regulations define an affirmation as a declaration “in the nature of an oath” that a statement is true, available to anyone with conscientious scruples against taking a traditional oath.2eCFR. 22 CFR Part 92 – Specific Notarial Acts The signer chooses which one they prefer. A notary who refuses to offer an affirmation is doing the job wrong.
In practice, the typical affirmation replaces “swear” with “affirm” and drops “so help you God” in favor of “under the penalties of perjury.” Both versions create the same legal obligation, and either satisfies the jurat requirement.
Copy Certifications
A copy certification is different from the other acts because nobody swears to anything and nobody acknowledges a signature. The notary verifies that a photocopy accurately reproduces an original document. The notary either supervises the copying, makes the copy personally, or carefully compares the copy to the original. The certificate then states that the copy is a true and complete reproduction.
This act is useful for academic transcripts, corporate records, and other documents a third party needs to see but the owner doesn’t want to surrender.
Documents You Cannot Copy-Certify
Not every document is eligible. The biggest restriction involves vital records. Most states prohibit notaries from certifying copies of birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage certificates because certified copies have to come from the issuing government agency. Several states extend the prohibition to court records and publicly recorded documents.
Federal law adds another layer. Certificates of Naturalization and Certificates of Citizenship carry strict reproduction restrictions, and making an unauthorized copy can result in federal criminal charges carrying substantial prison time.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1426 – Reproduction of Naturalization or Citizenship Papers A notary presented with one of these should decline.
Some states don’t authorize copy certification as a notarial act at all. If you’re in one of those states, the notary legally cannot perform this service. Check your state’s rules and the document type before you book the appointment.
Signature Witnessing
Signature witnessing is the most stripped-down act. The notary watches the signer put their signature on the document, confirms the signer’s identity, and records that the signing happened at a specific time and place. No oath is administered. The signer doesn’t declare the signature is a free act and deed. The notary is simply an official witness to the physical act of signing.
This act matters most when the date of signing is legally significant. Some states use signature witnessing specifically for documents where establishing the exact signing date carries more weight than confirming voluntariness or truthfulness. Because the signing has to happen in front of the notary, a pre-signed document doesn’t work. If someone shows up with the document already signed, they’ll have to sign again.
How to Tell Which Act Your Document Needs
The document itself usually tells you. Look at the certificate language printed at the bottom or on the attached page. If it says the signer “acknowledged” the signature, it’s an acknowledgment. If it says “subscribed and sworn” (or “subscribed and affirmed”) before the notary, it’s a jurat. If it says “signed before me” or “attested before me,” it’s a signature witnessing. A certificate that states a copy is a true reproduction of an original is a copy certification.
If the document doesn’t come with certificate language, the signer or the agency requesting the document has to decide which act applies. The notary cannot make that choice for you. Explaining in general terms what each act does is permitted; telling you which one your document needs is legal advice, and a notary who isn’t an attorney can’t give it.
The Notarial Certificate
Every notarial act produces a written certificate that is the permanent legal record of what happened. The certificate is not a fifth type of act. It’s the documentation attached to whichever act was performed, and a missing or defective certificate can get an otherwise valid notarization rejected by a court, recording office, or government agency.
Exact requirements vary by state, but most certificates must include the same core elements:
- Venue: the state and county where the notarization took place, typically written at the top as “State of ___, County of ___.”
- Date the notarial act was performed.
- Language that matches the act performed. An acknowledgment certificate says the signer “acknowledged” the signature. A jurat says the signer “subscribed and sworn” or affirmed before the notary.
- The notary’s official signature, exactly as it appears on their commission.
- The notary’s seal or stamp. Most states require an inked stamp or embossed seal showing the notary’s name, commission number, and commission expiration date.
The Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, published by the Uniform Law Commission, provides standardized certificate forms and definitions for all four major acts. About a dozen states have enacted it, and its recommended forms are widely recognized even in states that haven’t formally adopted the model law.
Errors happen. In many states, if the notary catches a mistake before the signer leaves, the notary can line through the error, write in the correction, initial and date it, and note the fix in a journal. Some states don’t allow corrections after the notarization is completed. In those states, the only option is to start over with a brand-new notarization. Either way, only the notary who performed the original act can correct or redo the certificate.
How Identity Gets Verified
Every notarial act starts with the same threshold question: is this person who they claim to be? The standard method is a current government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license or passport. The notary examines the ID, compares the photo and physical description to the person in front of them, and checks that the ID hasn’t expired.
People without acceptable identification can still get documents notarized in many states through a credible identifying witness. This is someone who personally knows the signer and vouches for their identity under oath. Rules vary. Some states allow a single credible witness who must be personally known to the notary. Others allow two credible witnesses who know the signer but not the notary, provided both witnesses present their own valid ID. The witness has to be impartial, meaning no financial interest in the transaction and no role as a party to the document. If the witness lies about the signer’s identity, they face perjury charges, which is what gives the oath real teeth.
Remote Online Notarization
As of 2025, 47 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws allowing remote online notarization, commonly called RON. The signer appears before the notary through a live audio-video connection rather than sitting across the same desk. The acts themselves don’t change. An acknowledgment is still an acknowledgment, a jurat still requires an oath. What changes is the method of appearance and how identity gets verified.
RON platforms typically require the signer to pass a multi-step identity check before the video session begins. The signer uploads photos of their ID for automated credential analysis, then answers knowledge-based authentication questions drawn from personal, credit, and financial records. During the video session, the notary also examines the ID on camera. Every session is recorded, and most states require the notary to retain the recording for a set period, commonly five to ten years.
Interstate recognition of remotely notarized documents can still be inconsistent because RON is governed by state law. If your document will be used in a different state from where the notary is commissioned, confirm the receiving agency will accept it.
Fees
Most states cap what a notary can charge for each act. The limits are modest. Acknowledgment fees typically fall between $2 and $15 per signature, and jurat fees usually mirror those. A few states set no statutory cap and leave the fee to the notary’s discretion.
Those caps apply only to the notarial act. When a mobile notary travels to you, travel fees are a separate charge and often aren’t capped. In practice, the travel fee frequently costs more than the notarization itself. Some states allow mileage charges, some permit hourly travel rates, and many simply let the notary charge “reasonable” or “actual” expenses. Ask about the total cost upfront, because the per-signature fee listed on a state’s schedule tells only part of the story.
What a Notary Cannot Do for You
A notary who isn’t also a licensed attorney cannot practice law, and the line catches people off guard. A notary cannot draft or help fill out legal documents, advise you on what type of notarization your document needs, explain the legal effect of a document, or recommend which documents to use for a transaction. Describing the general difference between an acknowledgment and a jurat is fine. Telling you which one applies to your situation is not.
This restriction carries special weight in communities where “notario público” implies a licensed legal professional, as it does in many Latin American countries. In the United States, a notary public has no such authority, and many states require non-attorney notaries to post visible notices saying so. If you need to know which document you should use or what a clause means, that’s a question for an attorney, not the notary.