A) Notary Public as a Public Officer, B) Qualifications & Requirements for Appointment, C) Appointment and Commission, D) Application Process, E) Renewal, F) Change of Address,           G) Resignation, H) Jurisdiction, I) Surety Bond, J) Notary Seal,   K) Notary Fees, L) Authentication of Notarized Documents,         M) Changing Your Commissioned Name During Term

FLORIDA NOTARIES PUBLIC - INTERACTIVE EDUCATIONAL COURSE

     A notary public is a public officer whose function is to administer oaths and attest and certify the authenticity of certain classes of documents. The acts you perform as a Florida Notary Public are official and recognized outside your jurisdiction. Notaries public perform the important functions of deterring document fraud and verifying signatures. A court has explained the importance of the office of notary public: "The duties and powers conferred upon notaries public are of a character that it would not be safe to permit every citizen to discharge for their mutual benefit without any sense of official responsibility. To expedite both public and private business, and for the purpose of authenticating business transactions for the public benefit, as well as for the benefit of the individual citizens, this particular office has been created, and the powers of the persons holding it defined". The Notary, acting in accordance with the laws set forth for a notary, protects the public and the notary against document fraud.

Article II, Section 5. Public officers.--

a.    No person holding any office of emolument under any foreign government, or civil office of emolument under the United States or any other state, shall hold any office of honor or of emolument under the government of this state. No person shall hold at the same time more than one office under the government of the state and the counties and municipalities therein, except that a notary public or military officer may hold another office, and any officer may be a member of a constitution revision commission, taxation and budget reform commission, constitutional convention, or statutory body having only advisory powers.

b.    Each state and county officer, before entering upon the duties of the office, shall give bond as required by law, and shall swear or affirm:  

    "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States and of the State of Florida; that I am duly qualified to hold office under the Constitution of the state; and that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of Notary Public on which I am now about to enter. So help me God.",

    and thereafter shall devote personal attention to the duties of the office, and continue in office until his successor qualifies.

c.    The powers, duties, compensation and method of payment of state and county officers shall be fixed by law.

6 Fla. Stat., pg. A-5 (1999)

B) Qualifications and Requirements for Appointment

    An applicant must be able to read, write, and understand the English language. To be appointed you must be at least 18 years of age and a permanent resident of the state. No specified residency period of time preceding your appointment is required. A permanent resident alien may be appointed provided he or she files a recorded Declaration of Domicile with the application. Both citizens and aliens must maintain residence throughout the term of appointment. The Governor may require any other information deemed necessary for determining whether you are eligible for a notary commission. Notaries public shall use and exercise the office of notary public within the boundaries of this state.

1 Fla. Stat. 117.01(1), pg. 944 (1999)

C) Appointment and Commission

    Only the Governor may appoint notaries. The Governor may appoint as many notaries as deemed necessary to a four-year term. Anyone interested in becoming a notary public needs to complete an application packet obtained from one of the bonding agencies that has been approved to electronically submit application information to the Notary Commissions and Certifications Section.

D) Application Process

    The application for appointment shall be signed and sworn to by the applicant and shall be accompanied by a fee. The Executive Office of the Governor waives the commission fee of $10.00 to any veteran commissioned as a notary public as long as the veteran served during a period of wartime, as defined in Section 1.01(14) of the Florida Statutes 1997 through Legislative Session 1998, and who has been rated by the United States Government or the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or its predecessor to have a disability rating of 50 percent or more; such a disability is subject to verification by the Secretary of State, who has authority to adopt reasonable procedures to implement this act.

    The oath of office and notary bond required by this section shall also accompany the application and shall be in a form prescribed by the Department of State which shall require, but not be limited to, the following information: full name, address and telephone number, business address and telephone number, date of birth, race, sex, social security number, citizenship status, driver's license number or the number of other official state-issued identification, affidavit of good character from someone unrelated to the applicant who has known the applicant for 1 year or more, a list of all professional licenses and commissions issued by the state during the previous 10 years and a statement as to whether or not the applicant has had such license or commission revoked or suspended, and a statement as to whether or not the applicant has been convicted of a felony, and, if there has been a conviction, a statement of the nature of the felony and restoration of civil rights. The applicant may not use a fictitious or assumed name other than a nickname on an application for commission. The application shall be maintained by the Department State for the full term of a notary commission. Each applicant must swear on the application that the information on the application is true and correct to the best of his or her knowledge, id. (2) (1999).

E) Renewal

    No person may be automatically reappointed as a notary public. The application process must be completed regardless of whether an applicant is requesting his or her first notary commission, a renewal of a commission, or any subsequent commission, id. (6), pg. 945 (1999)

F) Change of Address

    A notary public shall notify, in writing, the Department of State of any change in his or her business address, home telephone number, business telephone number, home address, or criminal record within 60 days after such change. Failure to report a change in business or home address or telephone number within the specified period of time may result in the Governor suspending the notary public as provided in s.7, Article IV of the State Constitution. 

G)  Resignation

      A notary public who wishes to resign his or her commission, or a notary public who does not maintain legal residence in this state during the entire term of appointment, or a notary public whose resignation is required by the Governor, shall send a signed letter of resignation to the Governor and shall return his or her certificate of notary public commission. The resigning notary public shall destroy his or her official notary public seal of office, unless the Governor requests its return.

Send these items to the Governor at Notary Section, Office of the Governor, LL-06, Capitol, Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001.

H)  Jurisdiction

       You may perform notarial acts anywhere in the State of Florida. However, you cannot perform a notarial act outside the state, even if it is for a  Florida resident and the document is going to be used in Florida. You must be physically located in the State of Florida when you perform a notarization as a Florida Notary Public.

I)  Surety Bond

    A notary public shall, prior to executing the duties of the office and throughout the term of office, give bond, payable to any individual harmed as a result of a breach of duty by the notary public acting in his or her official capacity, in the amount of $7,500, conditioned for the due discharge of the office and shall take an oath that he or she will honestly, diligently, and faithfully discharge the duties of the notary public. The bond shall be approved and filed with the Department of State and executed by a surety company for hire duly authorized to transact business in this state, id. (7a) (1999)

The Surety Bond protects the State and the public; it does not protect the notary. The Bonding company may recoup any payments it has made on behalf of the Notary relative to this Bond from the Notary Public.

J) Notary Seal

    Any notary public whose term of appointment extends beyond January 1, 1992, is required to use a rubber stamp type notary public seal on paper documents only upon reappointment on or after January 1, 1992, 1 Fla. Stat. 117.05(3)(b), pg. 945 (1999).

A notary public seal shall be affixed to all notarized paper documents and shall be of the rubber stamp type and shall include the words "Notary Public-State of Florida." The seal shall also include the name of the notary public, the date of expiration of the commission of the notary public, and the commission number. The rubber stamp seal must be affixed to the notarized paper document in photographically reproducible black ink. Every notary public shall print, type, or stamp below his or her signature on a paper document his or her name exactly as commissioned. An impression-type seal may be used in addition to the rubber stamp, but the rubber stamp seal shall be the official seal for use on a paper document, and the impression-type seal may not be substituted therefor, id. (3)(a) (1999).

A notary public whose official seal is lost, stolen, or believed to be in the possession of another person shall immediately notify the Department of State or the Governor in writing, id. (3)(d) (1999). 

K) Notary Fees

     The fee of a notary public may not exceed $10 for any one notarial act, except for solemnizing the rites of matrimony, the fee of a notary public may not exceed those provided by law to the clerks of the circuit court for like services, id. (2)(a) (1999).

A notary public may not charge a fee for witnessing an absentee ballot in an election, and must witness such a ballot upon the request of an elector, provided the notarial act is in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, id. (2)(b) (1999).

     No tax collector, deputy tax collector, or employee of the state or  any county shall charge, collect, or receive any fee or compensation for services performed as notary public in connection with or incidental to the issuance of license plates or titles, 1 Fla. Stat. 116.38(2), pg. 943 (1999).

The provisions of this subsection (320.04 - Registration service charge) and of s. 116.38(2) prohibiting the charging, collecting, or receiving of notary public fees doe not apply to any privately owned license plate agency appointed by the county manager of a charter county which has an appointed tax collector.

2 Fla. Stat. (1999) -  320.04 Registration service charge - (2). . .

L) Authentication of Notarized Documents by Secretary of State

    Upon request and receipt of notarized documents and accompanying funds, the Division of Elections, Notary Commissions and Certifications Section issues Apostilles and Certificates of Notarial Authority. An apostille is a simplified certification issued by the Secretary of State which can be attached to public documents that are to be used in any country that has signed the 1961 Hague Convention. With the apostille, the document is entitled to recognition in the country of intended use, and no further authentication or legalization by the embassy or consulate of the foreign country where the document is to be used is required.

Procedure for Document Authentication

DOCUMENTS WHICH MAY BE CERTIFIED:

The Secretary of State will Certify or Apostille the following documents:

 

  • Documents notarized or certified as true copies by a Florida Notary Public
  • Birth and Death Certificates bearing the signature of the State Registrar (C. Meade Grigg)
  • Vehicle Titles certified by the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles
  • Corporation documents bearing the signature of the Secretary of State (Katherine Harris)
  • Documents certified by a Clerk of the Court from a county within Florida

**NOTE: Documents must be submitted with original signatures; copies cannot be certified.

CERTIFICATION FEES:

The fee for certification by the Secretary of State is $10 per notarization. However, a county certified document, which also requires an Apostille (example, Marriage License) requires an additional $10 fee for a total of $20 per document. We accept either checks (drawn on a U.S. Bank) or money orders made payable to the Department of State.

PROCESSING TIME:

The processing time varies dependent upon the volume of work received and the resources available. They advise you to allow at least five (5) working days for processing.  Requests are completed in the date order they are received.  They do not offer expedited services.

PROCEDURES: Please follow these procedures carefully to enable their staff to process your request without delay.

    1. Enclose a cover letter stating the name of the country in which the

      2. documents will be used. The country name is needed in order to

      authenticate the document correctly, whether by Certificate of

      Notarial Authority or Apostille.

    2. Enclose the required fee. (See "Certification Fees" above)
    3. Enclose a self addressed, stamped envelope for return of the documents. If you wish the order to be returned by a courier service, you must enclose a pre-paid air bill with your order.
    4. Mail your request to: Department of State - Division of Elections - Notary Certification/Apostille Section - Room 1801, The Capitol -Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0250

M) Changing Your Commissioned Name During Term of Notary Commission

      Any notary public who lawfully changes his/her name during the term of the commission must request an amended commission from one of the bonding agencies that has been approved by submitting a completed notice of name change form (DS-DE 77A)

    1. current commission
    2. rider to current notary public bond (additional fee associated)
    3. $25 check or money order (payable to Department of State) A notice of name change form must be sent to the Division via electronic transfer.

Note: Once an amended commission has been requested, the notary public may continue to perform notarial acts in his former name until the amended commission is received.