What duties does a Notary perform?

A Notary’s duty is to screen the signers of important documents — such as property deeds, wills and powers of attorney — for their true identity, their willingness to sign without duress or intimidation, and their awareness of the contents of the document or transaction. Some notarizations also require the Notary to put the signer under an oath, declaring under penalty of perjury that the information contained in a document is true and correct.

Impartiality is the foundation of the Notary’s public trust. They are duty-bound not to act in situations where they have a personal interest. The public trusts that the Notary’s screening tasks have not been corrupted by self-interest. And impartiality dictates that a Notary never refuse to serve a person due to race, nationality, religion, politics, sexual orientation or status as a non-customer.

As official representatives of the state, Notaries Public certify the proper execution of many of the life-changing documents of private citizens — whether those diverse transactions convey real estate, grant powers of attorney, establish a prenuptial agreement, or perform the multitude of other activities that enable our civil society to function.

Using a remote online notary is convenient, fast, secure, and cost effective. Notarize documents from home using your webcam.

With remote notarization, a signer personally appears before the Notary at the time of the notarization using audio-visual technology over the internet instead of being physically present in the same room. Remote online notarization is also called webcam notarization, online notarization or virtual notarization.

Starting January 1, 2020, Florida Notaries must use new certificate wording for acknowledgments and jurats that indicates if the signer appeared in person or by audiovisual communication for the notarization.

The new certificate wording requirement is part of a new Florida law signed last June, which authorizes qualified and registered Notaries to perform remote online notarizations (RON) using audiovisual technology to communicate with a signer in a different location.

Under this new law, a certificate of acknowledgment or jurat must specify whether the signer appeared physically before the Notary or by using audio-video technology.