What is a Notary Public, and why should you care?

For many of us, the only thing we know about notarization is that 3 or 4 times in our lives we have to go to the bank and have them emboss a document. They remind you that next time you’re supposed to sign the document in front of them, but we all know that you’ll never wait.

What does it do? What does it mean? I have no clue, I’ve got to go work.

Now maybe some of us have gotten Jurat notarization. It’s something to do with court. I’ll assume it’s a good thing if we don’t have any clue what this is.

(Jurat notarizations are required for transactions where the signer must attest to the content of the document, such as all affidavits and pleadings in court. It is a certification on an affidavit declaring when, where and before whom it was sworn. However, jurat notarizations do not prove a document is true, legal, valid, or enforceable).

Some notarized documents can actually be signed ahead of time, those are Acknowledgements.

What are the different types of Notarizations?

NO! We’re not doing that. They’re all sort of the same. They all require a block of text (this can be hand-written, but it’s smarter to just use a stamp), and may or may not require other steps. In most cases, you need to witness the person sign the document. In some cases an oath is administered.

They all boil down to the same thing - a Notary Public certifies that the person signing a document is who they claim to be.

That’s really all it is. A person endorsed by the State that is able to verify the identity of a person signing a document. You pay this person $10 (or whatever the fee is in that state).

For those who act as Notary Public, their experience will vary by state. Some states requires $20 and a trip to the County Clerk. Other states may require mandatory training, at a cost of several hundred dollars out of pocket. There can also be variance by county.

Regardless of which state they operate in, the Notary is going to be spend at least $100 to get started.(Technically you could start with only a pen, provided you can accurately provide the required text block.)

But yeah, that’s really all there is to it. A trusted person that can vouch for your signature.