Notary Public

A notary public is a public official commissioned by a state to perform notarial acts: confirming the identity of a person who signs a document, taking that person's acknowledgment that they signed it, and administering oaths and affirmations. California's Secretary of State puts the office plainly: "A notary public is a public official appointed by the California Secretary of State." The notary's certificate, signature and seal are evidence about the signing, not about the paper. California's mandatory acknowledgment form opens with a boxed notice that the officer "verifies only the identity of the individual who signed the document to which this certificate is attached, and not the truthfulness, accuracy, or validity of that document."

"Notary" is the everyday short form of the same office. A notary public is also distinct from a medallion signature guarantee, which is a financial institution's guarantee of a signature used to transfer securities, not a notarial act.

Every rule about the office is a state rule. States appoint notaries, set their terms, fees and record-keeping duties, and decide what counts as proof of identity. California is a useful single example rather than a national template: its notaries serve four-year terms, must file an oath and a $15,000 surety bond with the county clerk before they may act, must keep a sequential journal, and must take the signer's right thumbprint in that journal when the document is a deed, a deed of trust, another document affecting real property, or a power of attorney. Identity is established by "satisfactory evidence" under California Civil Code section 1185, usually a current government identification document. None of these figures or procedures should be assumed to apply in another state.

Acknowledgment and jurat are different acts, and documents ask for one or the other. In an acknowledgment, the signer appears before the notary, proves who they are, and acknowledges having signed; the document may already be signed when they arrive. In a jurat, identified in California by the wording "Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed)", the signer signs in the notary's presence and the notary administers an oath or affirmation that the contents are true. Choosing between them is not the notary's job: in California, notaries "are prohibited from performing any duties that may be construed as the practice of law," which includes selecting the kind of legal document or advising on it.

Where a notary matters in personal finance. The clearest federal requirement is in ERISA. When a married participant in a pension or similar plan elects to waive the qualified joint and survivor annuity, the spouse must consent in writing, and 29 U.S.C. 1055(c)(2)(A) requires that the consent be "witnessed by a plan representative or a notary public." Real estate documents are the other common case: California's handbook notes that "many documents that are acknowledged may later be recorded" and warns that a recorder may reject a document whose seal is illegible. Powers of attorney and advance directives have their own execution rules in each state's statute, which may call for a notary, witnesses, or both.

Wills are where the role is most misunderstood. A will is admitted to probate on the strength of its execution formalities, and under the Uniform Probate Code's model a notary is not what makes a will valid. Minnesota, which follows the Uniform Probate Code, requires a will to be signed by the testator and by at least two witnesses and does not mention a notary in its execution section. North Dakota's version of the same Uniform Probate Code section lets the will be either signed by two witnesses or "acknowledged by the testator before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments", so in North Dakota the notary is an alternative to the witnesses, not an addition. A notary's other job around a will is the self-proving affidavit: Minnesota allows a will to be made self-proved by the testator's acknowledgment and the witnesses' affidavits made before "an officer authorized to administer oaths," which lets the will be admitted later without finding the witnesses.

Remote online notarization is also decided state by state. Whether a notary may act over audio-video communication is a question for each state's law. California has legislated but not yet switched it on: its Online Notarization Act was enacted in 2023, and as of the Secretary of State's January 2026 handbook a signer must still "physically be present before the notary public" for a California notarial act.

The sequence of a notarization is broadly the same everywhere, with the details supplied by the state where it happens. The signer brings the unsigned or signed document and identification. The notary confirms identity, records the act in a journal where the state requires one, completes the certificate the document calls for (an acknowledgment or a jurat), and signs and seals it. The notary does not read the document for legal effect, does not advise on it, and does not certify that its contents are true.

Consider an example of where the stakes are financial. Teodoro has a pension that would pay $2,400 a month as a single life annuity or $2,100 a month as a joint and survivor annuity that continues to his wife Marisol if he dies first. Choosing the single-life option adds $300 a month, or $3,600 a year, to his check, but federal law lets the plan pay it only if Marisol consents in writing, the consent acknowledges what she is giving up, and it is witnessed by a plan representative or a notary public. If the plan's form comes back with her signature but no notary or plan witness, the waiver does not take effect, and the plan pays the joint and survivor annuity by default. The notary's role is narrow: confirming that the person signing is Marisol and that she signed. Whether giving up the survivor income is wise is a separate question the notary has no part in.

Pros

• A notarization creates an independent record of who signed and when, which makes forgery and impersonation harder.
• Where federal law asks for it, as with ERISA spousal consent, the notary is one of two routes, so a spouse who cannot reach the plan in person can still give a valid consent.
• A notarized self-proving affidavit can spare an estate the cost and delay of locating witnesses years after a will was signed.

Cons

• A notarization is often mistaken for a stamp of legal approval. It says nothing about whether the document is valid, fair or understood.
• A notary acting as a notary does not give legal advice (California prohibits its notaries from choosing or advising on a legal document), so a signer who needs that advice has to get it elsewhere.
• Because the rules are set state by state, what a notary may do, including whether a notarization can be done remotely, depends on the state that commissioned the notary.