If you lose your notary stamp, stop performing notarizations immediately, report the loss in writing to the office that issued your commission, file a police report if you suspect theft, and request authorization to order a replacement seal. A missing stamp is a fraud risk from the moment it leaves your control, and the speed of your response is what separates a routine administrative problem from personal liability for acts you never performed.
Stop Notarizing Until You Have a Replacement
This is the step people skip, and it is the most important one. Nearly every state requires a seal impression on the notarial certificate, so without your stamp you cannot legally complete a notarization. A valid commission alone is not enough. An act performed without the stamp produces a defective document that courts, recording offices, and lenders can reject, and the notarization itself can be challenged and voided.
Do not borrow another notary’s stamp, and do not use a photocopy of your old impression. Your seal is tied to your specific commission, and substituting anyone else’s creates a new set of problems on top of the one you already have. You are grounded until a replacement arrives.
Report the Loss to Your Commissioning Authority
Your first contact should be the office that issued your commission. In most states that is the Secretary of State. In some, it is a county clerk or a notary division inside another state agency. The purpose of the report is to create an official record of the date your stamp left your control, so any notarization bearing it after that point is immediately suspect.
Deadlines vary. Some states require notification “immediately” or “promptly” without defining it. Others set a concrete window, and a few expect the report within as little as ten days. Treat it as urgent regardless of which category your state falls into. The longer the gap between the loss and the report, the harder it becomes to argue you acted responsibly.
Expect to provide:
- Your full legal name as it appears on the commission, your commission number, and the expiration date
- The circumstances of the loss: where you last had the stamp, when you noticed it was gone, and whether you suspect theft
- A copy of the police report, if you have filed one
Many states post a dedicated loss or theft form on their website. Others accept a signed written statement sent by certified mail or another method that generates a delivery receipt. Keep copies of everything you send and every confirmation you receive. That paperwork is your proof of due diligence if someone later asks what you did and when.
File a Police Report If It Was Stolen
If the stamp was taken rather than misplaced, file a report with local law enforcement. Several states explicitly require a police report in theft cases, and even where it is not mandatory, filing one strengthens your position. It creates an independent, timestamped record that someone else may now have your seal, and it puts law enforcement on notice that documents bearing your stamp after that date are potentially fraudulent.
Keep a photocopy. Your commissioning authority will likely want it as part of the formal notification, and your surety bond company may ask for it too.
Order an Authorized Replacement
You cannot simply order a new stamp from a vendor the way you would replace a lost credit card. Most states require authorization from the commissioning authority before a vendor will manufacture a new seal. The state issues a certificate of authorization or an official letter, and the vendor needs to see it before producing your replacement.
Turnaround varies. Some offices process authorization within a few business days; others take longer, especially if you file by mail rather than online. During that gap you still cannot notarize, which matters if your job depends on it.
Several states require the replacement to look noticeably different from the original. The change might be in shape, border design, or another visual element, and the point is to make it easy to tell a legitimate new notarization apart from anything done with the old stamp. If your state has that rule, the commissioning authority will tell you what kind of change is acceptable.
Costs are modest. Self-inking notary stamps generally run between $20 and $45 from authorized vendors. Some states charge a small administrative fee for the authorization certificate; many issue it at no cost.
If the Original Stamp Turns Up Later
If the missing stamp reappears after you have reported the loss and received a replacement, you cannot start using it again. In most states you must notify the commissioning authority that it was recovered and then destroy it. Some states require you to surrender it to the state office directly. Either way, the recovered stamp is no longer valid.
The logic is simple: once a replacement has been issued, any impression made with the original is indistinguishable from a fraudulent one. Keeping two active stamps in circulation defeats the entire system. Deface or dismantle the old one so the impression can no longer be used.
What Happens If You Don’t Report
Failing to report a lost stamp is not a minor oversight. Depending on your state, consequences include fines, suspension of your commission, or revocation. In some jurisdictions, willful failure to report can be charged as a misdemeanor, especially if the lost stamp is later used to commit fraud and your delay contributed to the harm.
Even where the written penalties are mild, the practical exposure is not. If someone uses your lost stamp to notarize a forged deed or a fraudulent power of attorney, the first question investigators will ask is when you reported the loss. “I didn’t” or “three months later” is a hard answer to recover from. A finding of negligence can lead to claims against your surety bond and personal liability beyond it.
Notify Your Bond Company, and Know What the Bond Covers
The surety bond your state requires does not protect you. It protects the public. If someone is harmed by a notarial act performed with your seal, the bond company pays the injured party and then comes after you for reimbursement. The bond is a guarantee that victims will be made whole, backed by the bonding company’s credit rather than yours.
Errors and omissions insurance is what actually protects you personally. It is optional in most states. An E&O policy covers your legal defense and any damages you are found liable for, without the reimbursement obligation that follows a bond payout. Without E&O, a claim against your bond tied to a lost stamp can come out of your pocket in full.
Report the loss to your bond company as well. Most bonding agreements require you to notify the company of any event that could lead to a claim, and skipping that step can give the company grounds to deny coverage when you need it.
Keep Your Journal Current
A well-maintained notary journal is the single most useful piece of evidence you can have if your missing stamp is used fraudulently. Roughly half of all states require a journal; keep one regardless.
The journal is a chronological record of every notarization you perform: date, type of act, signer’s name, how you verified identity, and a description of the document. If a forged document surfaces bearing your seal and dated after you reported the stamp missing, your journal shows there is no corresponding entry. If the forgery is backdated to a period when you still had the stamp, the journal can show you were notarizing other documents elsewhere at the time, or that no such signer ever appeared before you. Investigators and adjusters give far more weight to contemporaneous records than to after-the-fact testimony.
Tell Your Employer
If you notarize as part of your job, tell your employer right away. Many workplaces have internal security protocols for this situation, and your office may need to arrange alternative notarization services while you wait for the replacement. Your employer also has a legitimate interest in knowing that a stamp tied to an employee’s commission is unaccounted for, especially if notarizations are performed on company premises.
One point to keep straight: even if your employer paid for the original stamp, it belongs to you as the commissioned notary. No employer can require you to surrender it, and the responsibility for reporting the loss sits with you, not with HR.