Notary law, by the letter. Every claim cited to its statute.
Fees, rules and requirements, state by state — published only after we've checked each fact against the statute and the state's own official notary source. If we can't cite it, we don't publish it.
Reference, not legal advice. These guides explain how notarization works. They won't tell you which document your situation needs.
California, Colorado, Delaware, New York, Oregon and Texas are live.
Verified facts · statute + the state's official source
The first verified fact from each of the guide's eight sections.
Fees
This is a ceiling, not a set price — a notary may charge less, or nothing at all. For an acknowledgment it is counted per signature taken, and for a jurat per person sworn, so one document signed by two people can carry two fees. Depositions have their own maximums, and travel is a separate charge.
§Cal. Gov. Code §8211Cross-checked · 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook
Acts · Jurat
Signing in front of the notary is the jurat's rule. For an acknowledgment the signer must still appear in person, but the document can be signed beforehand.
§Cal. Gov. Code §8202Cross-checked · 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook
Identification
One witness must be personally known to the notary; with two, neither needs to be. Each witness shows their own acceptable ID and swears or affirms that the signer is the person named in the document and is personally known to them, that the signer has none of the accepted IDs, that they reasonably believe the signer would find it very difficult or impossible to get one, and that they have no financial interest in the document and are not named in it. Whether the conditions are met is the notary's call.
§Cal. Civ. Code §1185(b)(1), (b)(2)Cross-checked · 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook
Journal
The right thumb by default; if it isn't available, the left thumb or any available finger, noted in the journal. A signer physically unable to give a print has that noted, with an explanation. The thumbprint rule doesn't apply to a trustee's deed from a foreclosure or to a deed of reconveyance.
§Cal. Gov. Code §8206(a)(2)(G)Cross-checked · 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook
Online Notarization
California's own remote online notarization won't operate until the Secretary of State certifies its technology. Until then, online notarizations performed by notaries in other states are recognized here.
§Cal. Gov. Code §8232.1Cross-checked · 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook
Apostille
The notary handles the notarization. The apostille itself comes from the Secretary of State's office.
§CA Secretary of StateCross-checked · CA Secretary of State, Request an Apostille
Becoming a notary
The course only counts if the Secretary of State approved that vendor. After the commission issues you have 30 days to file the oath and a $15,000 bond with your county clerk — until then it isn't in effect.
§Cal. Gov. Code §8201(a); §8204; §8212; §8213(a)Cross-checked · 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook
Complaints
The Secretary of State disciplines notaries — it can't recover your money or undo a document. Fraud or forgery goes to local law enforcement or the district attorney instead.
§Cal. Gov. Code §8214.1; §8220Cross-checked · 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook; CA SOS complaint process
See the full California guide 16 more verified facts, all eight sections in full
Need it notarized?
Every listing sourced from the Secretary of State's roster.
All fifty states, honestly labeled
We'd rather show you an honest status than a guess.
Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming
One template, every guide
A signer in Sacramento and a notary in Austin read the law in the same layout, so comparing two states is as simple as reading the same section twice.
A
What a notary may charge for each act, and what sits outside the cap.
B
Acknowledgments, jurats, oaths and certified copies, and what each one certifies.
C
Acceptable identification and the paths when ID is missing.
D
What must be recorded, and when special entries apply.
E
Whether remote online notarization is operative, and for whom.
F
Who issues it and how documents get authenticated for use abroad.
G
Eligibility, steps, costs and timeline to a commission.
H
Who regulates the notary, where a complaint goes, and what that office cannot do for you.
How a fact gets on this page
Most notary-law pages online are rewrites of other people's rewrites, with no sources and no date. Ours follow one rule: no citation, no claim.
Every claim starts at the primary source: the state's own code, section by section. Not a blog, not an aggregator, and never AI-generated text.
We then check the claim against the state's own current official source — a notary handbook where the state publishes one, the Secretary of State's own pages where it doesn't — and date the check. If the statute and that source disagree, we hold the fact. One card is the exception: Delaware's identification rule, published on the statute with the disagreement printed on the card.
Each fact also records what it does not mean, because over-generalizing is how other guides go wrong. A rule about jurats stays a rule about jurats.
Straight answer · What these guides are
These guides explain how notarization works: the fees, the acts, the process. They won't tell you which document your situation needs, and neither will any notary. Notaries public are not attorneys and cannot give legal or immigration advice. For that, talk to a lawyer.
The same rule that governs our directory governs these pages: we publish what the state publishes, cite it, and stop there.
Questions, answered
The states where we already publish the Secretary of State's roster: California, Colorado, Delaware, New York, Oregon and Texas. Every one of them has a guide live.
Because we haven't verified it against the statute and your state's own official source, and we won't publish a number until we have. A wrong fee on a law page is worse than no page at all.
Every fact shows its citation and the source it was checked against, with its edition where the state publishes one. When a state updates its law or that source, we re-verify the affected facts before the guide changes.
No. That's a legal question, and answering it would mean giving legal advice, which neither we nor any notary can do. What we can do is walk you through how notarizing a document works once you have it, and connect you with a notary.
For signers
State-published commissions, searchable by what you're signing and where you are.
For future notaries
California requires a six-hour course of study from a state-approved vendor before you can take the exam. NotaryOT Academy is exam preparation and career training — it is not that course.
