To notarize a document, you appear in person (or by approved video session) before a commissioned notary public, prove your identity with government-issued photo ID, and sign the document while the notary watches and then certifies the act with a signature, seal, and date. The whole visit usually takes under 15 minutes and costs somewhere between $2 and $25 per signature, depending on your state. That is essentially all there is to how to notarize a document, but the preparation you do beforehand is what decides whether the appointment goes smoothly or gets you sent home to start over.
Before You Go: What to Prepare
Two things matter more than anything else: your identification and the condition of the document.
Bring valid, unexpired, government-issued photo ID. A current driver’s license, U.S. passport, military ID, or state identification card is accepted in virtually every jurisdiction. Notaries inspect security features and compare the photo to your face, so an ID that is expired, badly damaged, or heavily worn can create problems even if you consider it still usable. The name on your ID must match the name printed on the document. If your legal name has changed, bring supporting paperwork such as a marriage certificate.
If you do not have a qualifying photo ID, many states allow a credible identifying witness to vouch for you under oath. The rules vary. Some states require one witness who personally knows the notary, while others accept two witnesses who know you but not the notary, each presenting their own valid ID. Witnesses must swear they have no financial interest in the transaction. Call the notary in advance to confirm what your state allows.
Bring the document, and make sure every field is filled in. Notaries routinely refuse to notarize documents with blank spaces because gaps create room for someone to alter the document after certification. The one section you leave blank is the notarial certificate itself, which the notary completes.
Whether to sign the document in advance depends on the type of notarial act. If the certificate block near the signature line says “acknowledged before me,” it is an acknowledgment, and you can sign before the appointment or at it; you will just confirm the signature is yours. If it says “subscribed and sworn to before me,” it is a jurat, and you must sign in front of the notary after taking a spoken oath or affirmation that the contents are true. Arriving at a jurat with a pre-signed document means starting over with a clean copy. When in doubt, do not sign until you are in front of the notary.
Where to Get It Done
Notary services are widely available. Banks and credit unions are the most common source and often provide the service free to account holders. Shipping and office supply stores usually have a notary on staff during business hours. County clerk offices and some public libraries also offer notarization, typically at the statutory fee.
Standard in-person fees run from $2 to $25 per notarial act, with most states capping the amount between $5 and $15. A few states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Maine, let notaries set their own fees but require disclosure before beginning. Fees are charged per signature or per act, not per appointment, so multiple notarizations in one visit cost more.
Mobile Notaries
When you cannot travel, a mobile notary comes to you: home, hospital, nursing facility, workplace. Expect the per-act fee plus a travel charge, which is not always capped by state law. Total costs typically run $50 to $150 or more depending on distance and time of day, with hospital and late-night visits at the higher end. For a signer with limited mobility or a medical situation, confirm in advance that the notary is comfortable assessing signer awareness in that setting.
Remote Online Notarization
Remote online notarization (RON) lets you complete the notarization over a live video call from your phone or computer. As of early 2025, 45 states and the District of Columbia have permanent RON laws. The notary verifies your identity in a multi-step process: you show a government-issued ID on camera, the platform’s credential analysis software checks the ID’s security features, and you answer knowledge-based authentication questions drawn from your credit history and public records. The session is recorded and stored.
RON costs more than in-person. States that cap RON fees generally set the notary’s charge at $25 per act, and the platform adds a technology fee, so a single session commonly runs $25 to $50. The tradeoff is scheduling freedom and the ability to close deals with signers in different states.
What Happens at the Appointment
The visit follows a predictable sequence.
The notary examines your ID first, checking that it is genuine, that the photo matches you, and that the name matches the document. A name mismatch is one of the most common reasons notarizations stall.
Next, the notary makes a quick judgment about whether you appear to understand what you are signing and whether anyone is pressuring you. This is not a formal competency exam. Notaries are trained to notice red flags: confusion about the document’s purpose, signs of intoxication, or a companion who seems to be directing your answers. Expect an open-ended question or two, such as “Do you know what this document does?” A signer who cannot respond coherently can be turned away.
If the act is a jurat, the notary administers a spoken oath or affirmation, and you must respond out loud. A nod or a mumble does not count. An affirmation carries the same legal weight as an oath if swearing conflicts with your beliefs.
You then sign the document while the notary watches. The notary completes the notarial certificate by signing, affixing the official seal or stamp, and recording the date. Most states also require the notary to record the transaction in an official journal, including the date, time, type of document, type of act, and how your identity was verified. That entry becomes a permanent record if the notarization is ever questioned later.
Reasons a Notary Will Turn You Away
Knowing the common grounds for refusal in advance saves a wasted trip.
- Your ID is expired, damaged, or does not match the name on the document.
- The document has blank spaces outside the notarial certificate.
- You appear confused, intoxicated, or under pressure from someone else in the room.
- The notary has a personal financial interest in the document or is a named party. Several states also prohibit notarizing for close family, particularly spouses; even where it is allowed, a different notary is the safer choice.
- You ask the notary for legal advice. A notary who is not also a licensed attorney cannot help draft the document, explain legal consequences, or recommend options. If a notary offers this kind of guidance, treat it as a warning sign, not a service.
One more limit worth knowing: roughly half the states do not authorize notaries to perform copy certifications at all, and even the states that do prohibit certifying copies of vital records such as birth, death, and marriage certificates. For those, contact the issuing government office directly.
If Your Notarized Document Is Rejected
Rejections happen and most are fixable. The usual causes are a smudged or illegible seal, the wrong type of notarial act (an acknowledgment where a jurat was required, or vice versa), blank spaces left in the document, or a name mismatch between the signer’s ID and the document.
Do not try to fix a rejected notarization yourself. Writing on the document, adding information, or crossing anything out after certification invalidates it. Get a fresh, unsigned copy and go through notarization again, addressing whatever caused the rejection. Before the second appointment, call whoever rejected the document and ask exactly what was wrong so you can tell the notary. A brief phone call prevents a repeat rejection.
Using a Notarized Document in Another State or Country
A document notarized in one state is generally valid in every other state. The receiving state looks to the law of the state where the notarization occurred to decide whether it was performed correctly, so you do not need to re-notarize a document just because it is being filed somewhere else. RON is a newer development and not every state’s recognition rules explicitly address video notarizations. In practice they are widely accepted, but for high-stakes cross-state transactions like a real estate closing, confirm with the receiving party before the appointment.
For use abroad, notarization alone is usually not sufficient. Countries in the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention accept an apostille certificate as proof that the notarization is legitimate. The apostille is issued separately and attached to your already-notarized document. State-level documents, which covers most notarized paperwork, go through the Secretary of State (or equivalent office) in the state where the notarization was performed. Federal documents go through the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications.
One caution from the State Department: do not get an original federal document notarized before requesting an apostille, because notarizing it can invalidate the document for apostille purposes. Federal documents already signed by an authorized official should go through the apostille process directly, with any additional notarization handled separately if the receiving country requires it.1U.S. Department of State. Preparing Your Document for an Apostille Certificate