To notarize a document, you screen the job for conflicts of interest, confirm the signer is personally in front of you, verify their identity, review the document for completeness and the correct certificate, perform the notarial act the certificate calls for, complete and seal the certificate, log the transaction in your journal, and collect a fee within your state’s cap. That sequence is how to notarize a document in every U.S. jurisdiction. The details inside each step shift from state to state, but the backbone does not.
Screen the Job for Conflicts First
Before you handle the document, decide whether you can lawfully notarize it. You can never notarize your own signature. That rule is absolute in every jurisdiction.
Family is where notaries get into trouble. Some states flatly prohibit notarizing for spouses, parents, children, and siblings. Others allow it only when you have no financial stake in the transaction. The safest habit, regardless of your state, is to send any relative to another notary whenever your impartiality could reasonably be questioned.
Financial interest reaches further than most new notaries realize. If you would receive a commission, referral fee, or any benefit from the underlying transaction beyond your lawful notary fee, decline. Several states treat notarizations performed under a disqualifying interest as voidable, meaning a court can undo the entire document.
Confirm the Signer Personally Appears
Every state requires the signer to personally appear before you at the time of the notarization. This is the single non-negotiable rule of the profession, and violating it is among the most common reasons commissions get revoked. Personal appearance traditionally meant the signer was in the same room. In states that authorize remote online notarization, it now also covers appearing through a live audio-video connection.
No exceptions exist for convenience. A spouse cannot appear for a husband or wife. A business partner cannot sign for an absent co-owner. If the person whose signature you are notarizing is not in front of you, either in person or through an authorized remote session, you stop.
Verify the Signer’s Identity
Once the signer is in front of you, confirm they are who they claim to be. Every state requires “satisfactory evidence” of identity, and every state defines that phrase a little differently.
Most states accept a current, government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license, state ID card, or passport. Some states require the ID to be unexpired at the moment of the notarization. Others accept IDs issued within a set window, commonly five years, though a handful allow up to three years past expiration. Check your state’s list before you notarize.
When you review the ID, look for a photograph that matches the person in front of you, a physical description that fits, and a signature you can compare to the one going on the document. Record the ID type, document number, and expiration date. You will need those details for your journal.
When the Signer Has No ID
Some states let you verify identity through one or more credible identifying witnesses. A credible witness personally knows the signer, vouches for their identity, and typically takes an oath from you confirming that knowledge. The witness generally cannot have a financial interest in the transaction or be named in the document.
State rules vary. Some require one witness who is personally known to both you and the signer. Others allow two witnesses who know the signer but not you, provided the witnesses present their own valid ID. If your state does not authorize credible witnesses, and the signer has no acceptable ID, you refuse the job.
Willingness and Awareness
Identity verification is not only about matching a face to a card. You also need to be satisfied that the signer understands the document and is acting voluntarily. If someone appears confused, disoriented, or pressured by a companion, you have a duty to refuse. Notarizing a signature obtained through coercion, or from someone who lacks the capacity to understand what they are signing, can trigger revocation of your commission and civil liability.
Review the Document
Examine the document before performing any notarial act. You are not reading it for legal substance and you are not giving legal advice. You are checking that it is complete and ready.
Scan every page for blank spaces in the body. Notarizing an incomplete document invites fraud, because someone can later fill those blanks with terms the signer never agreed to. Ask the signer to complete missing fields or draw a line through any that are intentionally blank. Most states prohibit notarizing documents with substantive blanks, and where the rule is not explicit, avoiding them is still best practice.
Identify the Notarial Certificate
Find the notarial certificate, the section where you fill in your information, sign, and seal. Many documents come with a pre-printed certificate at the end. Read the certificate wording. It tells you which notarial act to perform. Acknowledgment certificates use phrases like “acknowledged before me.” Jurat certificates say “subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me.” Using the wrong certificate invalidates the notarization.
If no certificate is pre-printed, attach a loose certificate with the correct wording for your state. Staple it to the document and include enough identifying detail that it cannot be detached and reattached to a different document. Your state may have specific requirements about loose certificate contents.
Check the venue line, the “State of ____, County of ____” portion, against where the notarization is actually taking place. Venue reflects where you performed the act, not where the signer lives or where the document will be filed.
Foreign-Language Documents
State laws generally do not prohibit notarizing a document written in a language you cannot read, but doing so is risky. You cannot tell whether the document has blank spaces, whether the certificate wording matches the act, or whether anything has been misrepresented to you. The best option is to refer the signer to a notary who reads the language. If that is not possible, proceed only when the certificate itself is in a language you read, and only when you and the signer share a common language directly. Only one state expressly authorizes a notary to use an interpreter.
Perform the Correct Notarial Act
Most notarizations are either acknowledgments or jurats. They are not interchangeable.
Acknowledgments
An acknowledgment confirms that the signer is who they claim to be, understands the document, and signed it voluntarily. The signer does not need to sign in your presence; they may have signed earlier. They do need to personally appear before you and verbally acknowledge that the signature is theirs and was made willingly. Deeds, mortgages, and powers of attorney typically require acknowledgments.
Jurats
A jurat goes further. The signer must sign the document in your presence and then swear or affirm under oath that its contents are true. You administer the oath or affirmation verbally, such as “Do you swear that the statements in this document are true?” for an oath, or “Do you affirm under penalty of perjury that the statements in this document are true?” for an affirmation. The choice between an oath, which invokes a deity, and an affirmation, which appeals to personal honor, belongs to the signer. Affidavits and sworn statements typically require jurats.
Asking the signer to raise their right hand is a tradition, not a requirement. No state mandates the gesture, but many notaries find it reinforces the seriousness of what the signer is committing to.
Signers Who Cannot Write
When a signer is physically unable to write their name, most states allow them to make a mark, typically an “X,” in place of a signature. The mark must be made in your presence. The usual procedure has you or a witness write the signer’s name next to the mark and note that the mark was made in your presence. Details on who writes the name and whether an extra witness is required vary by state.
Complete the Certificate, Sign, and Seal
After the verbal portion of the act, fill in the certificate. That means the date, the venue, the signer’s name, and the type of act performed. Sign exactly as your name appears on your commission. A mismatch between your signature and your commission name can get the document rejected.
Apply your official seal near your signature. The seal must be legible. A smudged, partial, or overlapping stamp is one of the most common reasons recording offices and government agencies kick documents back. Most states require the seal to show your name, the words “Notary Public,” your commission expiration date, and the commissioning state. Beyond that, requirements diverge. Some states mandate a rectangular rubber ink stamp. Others accept a circular embosser. A few allow either but treat the ink stamp as primary, with the embosser as an optional supplement. Ink color rules vary too: black is most commonly required, though some states specify blue, purple, or simply “photographically reproducible” ink.
Review the completed certificate once more. Confirm the date matches the day of the act, the venue is right, and no field is blank. Then return the document to the signer.
Record the Transaction in Your Journal
A detailed journal protects you more than any other habit. If the validity of a notarization is challenged years later, your journal entry is the evidence you use to testify about what happened. Not every state legally requires a journal, but keeping one anyway is the strongest professional practice available.
Each entry should include, at minimum:
- Date and time of the notarial act.
- Document type, such as power of attorney, affidavit, or deed.
- The notarial act performed (acknowledgment, jurat, or other).
- Signer’s name and address as shown on their ID.
- Identification method: type of ID, document number, and expiration date. If identity came from a credible witness, record the witness’s name and how you verified them.
- The exact fee you collected.
Some states also require the signer’s signature or thumbprint in the journal, particularly for real property documents and powers of attorney. Record entries chronologically and never leave gaps. A paper journal should be a bound book; loose pages invite accusations of tampering. Electronic journals must meet your state’s security requirements.
Keep completed journals for at least the retention period your state sets. Even after your commission ends, those journals remain important records, and some states require you to turn them over to a designated authority when you leave office.
Collect a Lawful Fee
Every state sets a maximum fee per notarial act, and you cannot exceed it. Caps range from as low as $2 per act to $25 for standard in-person notarizations. Remote online notarizations sometimes carry a higher maximum, up to $30 in certain states. Some states set different caps for different acts, so know your state’s fee schedule.
Overcharging is a serious violation. Penalties can include fines, suspension, or revocation, depending on the state. Record the exact fee you charged in every journal entry, even when you waived it entirely. Transparent fee records protect you if a complaint is filed.
Travel fees for mobile notary work are separate. Many states leave travel charges uncapped as long as they are “reasonable,” while others set specific limits. Whatever you charge for travel, keep it separate from the notarial fee itself and disclose it to the signer before you begin.
Fixing Certificate Errors
Mistakes happen: a wrong date, a misspelled name, an incorrect venue. How you fix them depends on when you catch the error and on your state.
If you catch the mistake before the signer leaves, the fix is straightforward. Draw a single line through the incorrect information, write the correction nearby, and initial and date the change. Never use correction fluid or write over the error.
If the signer has already left with the document, your options narrow. Some states allow corrections on the original certificate using the same line-through-and-initial method, with a note in your journal. Others, including some of the most populous, do not permit corrections after completion at all. In those jurisdictions, the only fix is having the signer appear again for an entirely new notarization with a fresh certificate and journal entry.
One rule is universal. Never let anyone else alter a certificate you completed. The certificate is your sworn statement about what happened, and only you can change it.
Remote Online Notarization
As of 2025, at least 47 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws authorizing some form of remote online notarization. RON lets a signer appear before you through a live, two-way audio-video connection instead of being physically present.
The core steps mirror an in-person notarization: verify identity, perform the act, complete the certificate, apply your seal electronically, and record the transaction. Identity verification is more involved. Most states require at least two layers of proofing:
- Credential analysis, in which automated technology examines the security features of the signer’s government-issued ID to confirm it is genuine.
- Identity verification, in which the signer passes either knowledge-based authentication using questions drawn from credit history and public records, or a biometric comparison such as facial recognition against the ID photo, or both.
RON sessions must be recorded. Most states require you to retain the audio-video recording for a set number of years, and the platform must produce tamper-evident documents. You need a platform approved under or compliant with your state’s specific RON rules. A standard video call will not qualify.
Bonds and E&O Insurance Are Not the Same Thing
Most states require you to purchase a surety bond before receiving your commission. Bond amounts range from $500 to $50,000 depending on the state. The bond protects the public: if someone suffers a financial loss from your negligent or improper notarization, they can claim against your bond for damages.
The bond is not insurance for you. If a claim is paid on your bond, the surety company will come after you to reimburse the amount. You are personally on the hook.
That is what errors and omissions insurance is for. E&O covers your legal defense and any damages if you are sued over an improperly performed notarization. It is optional in most states but worth carrying, particularly if you handle real property documents or work as a signing agent for loan closings. Signing agent E&O policies cover gaps a standard notary E&O policy does not, so notaries doing both types of work may need both types of coverage.