{Official Seal - Chester County Recorder of Deeds}
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Becoming a PA Commissioned Notary Public
For information on becoming a Pennsylvania Commissioned Notary, please visit the PA Department of State Become a Notary webpage. There you can download an application and see complete instructions.
In general:
- Complete the PA Department of State Application.
- Mail completed application to your State Senator for his/her signature (do not send application fee, only the application). The State Senator will returned the signed application to you.
- After obtaining your State Senator's signature, mail the completed application along with the $40.00 state application fee to the PA Department of State. If appointed, your commission will be sent to our office. You will receive, from the PA Department of State, notification of your appointment along with a Surety Bond form (takes 4 to 6 weeks). A notary is required to obtain a notary bond prior to taking the oath of office.
- After obtaining your bond, you must come to our office in person to execute the bond, take the Oath of Office, and have the bond, Oath and Commission recorded. You will also need to register your signature with the Court via the Office of the Prothonotary (located in the Justice Center). You are at this point a duly Commissioned Notary Public and may begin performing notorial acts. Your original Commission will be returned to you by mail after being recorded, scanned and microfilmed (takes 4 to 6 weeks). Your original Bond will be forwarded to the PA Department of State after recordation. The recording fee for a Notary Public Bond and Commission is $40.50. Our office does not accept personal checks or credit cards.
Becoming an Electronic Notary in Pennsylvania
Effective September 25, 2009, the Pennsylvania Department of State is no longer accepting new applications for the e-Notarization program. The Department is currently reevaluating the existing process for obtaining a digital certificate. Visit the PA Department of State eNotary webpage for detailed information.
Notary Basics for Documents Being Recorded
Acknowledgement - PA State Law requires that land records be acknowledged prior to recording [Title 21 of PA Statutes]. An acknowledgement is a method of authenticating a signature on a document. It is a declaration made in a notary's presence by an individual who signed a document. The individual appears in person to declare that he or she did, in fact, sign the document and knew what he or she was doing at the time, thereby authenticating the signature. A written form of acknowldegement, completed by a notary, confirms the individual's identity and intention to sign the document [Source: PA Association of Notaries "Practical Guide", page 95].
A proper acknowledgement includes: State and County where the acknowledgement was taken, date including the year, name of person(s) and/or name of corporate officer(s), title of officer(s), name of corporation or partnership, notary's signature, notary stamp and notary seal (if applicable) and notary commission expiration date.
Notary Stamp - Must be clear and legible. Writing or typing information on the stamp is a violation of Chapter 12 of the Pennsylvania Uniform Notary Law.
Ink - Black ink is recommended (and required by some jurisdictions). Blue, red, green, etc. ink may not scan legibly. Stamps which are too light may not be visible on the scanned image. Stamps which are too dark and/or blurred may not be legible on the scanned image. If a notary's stamp is determined to be too light or too dark, then the document will be returned to the submitter, unrecorded, and a $5.00 return fee will be due on resubmission of the corrected document.
Consistency - Names (and titles) must remain consistent throughout a document including the acknowledgement. For example, in each deed, the stated grantor, the signature and the name stated in the acknowledgement must match exactly including any initial or suffix (Jr., IV, etc.).
Sample Forms of Acknowledgement
SAMPLE Individual Acknowledgement - This form allows one or more individuals to acknowledge their signatures, each acting on his or her own behalf. [Source: PA Association of Notaries]
SAMPLE Corporate Acknowledgement - This form allows an individual to acknowledge his or her signature acting as an officer of a corporation. [Source: PA Association of Notaries]
SAMPLE Form of Acknowledgement for a Re-Recorded Document - This form is a sample of what should be used when creating a new acknowledgement for a document being re-recorded in cases where the orginal signers are not re-signing and being re-acknowledged. This is often used when a mortgagee (lender) or title agency is re-recording a mortgage in order to add a forgotten page (e.g., a rider), or when the mortgagee is making a minor correction to a previously recorded mortgage.
Notary's Register
A notary’s ledger is the official record of the notarial acts completed during the term of that notary. Notary Public Law requires notaries to keep a register, a chronological record of notarial acts, including the date of the instrument, the type of act and the fee charged [57 PS § 149 et seq.]. The register is the exclusive property of the notary, may not be used by any other person and may not be surrendered to any employer of the notary upon termination of employment [57 PS § 161(b)].
Notaries are not required to keep copies of the instruments notarized or copies of the signer’s identification. These should not be retained because of the risk involved in keeping a record of customers’ personal information.
In the event of the notary’s death, resignation or disqualification, the notary’s register should be delivered to the appropriate county Recorder of Deeds office within thirty days. Notification of death or resignation should be sent to the PA Department of State (www.dos.state.pa.us). If a notary’s commission is revoked or expires, unless the notary public applies for a commission within thirty (30) days of the expiration of the prior commission, the notary’s register should be delivered to the Recorder of Deeds office [57 PS § 161(d)]. In Chester County, these registers are logged and kept in secure storage in the event the information contained within is needed in future proceedings.
Notary Register Tips:
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Alterations: Do not alter or change register entries. Do not use correction fluid.
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Ditto Marks: Do not use ditto marks.
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Lost Register: If a notary’s register is lost, stolen or destroyed, the notary should, on the first line of her/his new register, note that there was a previous register and include a brief explanation of what happened to that register. Notification of the lost register should be sent to the PA Department of State.
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Personal Information: Personal customer information should not be kept in the register (e.g., driver’s license numbers, social security numbers). To redact any personal information previously kept, draw a line through it with a black marker so as to mask the information. The Pennsylvania Association of Notaries recommends typing a notation on the page indicating that “Confidential information has been partially redacted from this page. No information has been altered.”
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Certified Copy of an Entry: To make a certified copy of an entry contained in the register, the notary public should make a photocopy of the entire page containing the entry in question. A certificate stating, “This is a true and correct copy from my official register,” should be attached to the photocopied register page.
Foreign Language Documents
Any foreign language document must include a written English translation, sworn or affirmed by the translator, to be recorded along with the original insturment. An apostille or certificate of authorization may be required depending upon the country of origin. More info...
In the event that a notary public's name changes during the commission term, the Secretary of the Commonwealth and Recorder of Deeds (of the county where the notary public's business address is located) should be notified of the change within 30 days. The notary can continue to use the name under which he or she was commissioned or can use the new name after notifying the proper authorities. Applications for reappointment must be made in the new name.
Before using the new name on notarial work, the notary public is required to notify the recorder of deeds that the new name will be used, register the new signature with the prothonotary, purchase a new rubber stamp seal and inform the Department of State of the decision to utilize the new name. A letter detailing the name change, and where appropriate, accompanied by a court order, is sufficient for purposes of notifying the Department of State. More info...
A notary public who changes his/her office address is required to inform the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the recorder of deeds of the county of appointment within five days of the address change. If the new office is in a different county, the notary public's signature must be registered with the prothonotary of the new county within 30 days. In counties of the second class the signature shall also be registered in the proper office of the clerk of court.
A change of address of a notary public may be submitted by letter to the Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation, 210 North Office Building, Harrisburg, PA 17120-0029, or by using the online forms provided by the Department of State website. More info...
Content Last Modified on 4/8/2010 11:25:40 AM
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