The Florida Senate

117.05  Use of notary commission; unlawful use; notary fee; seal; duties; employer liability; name change; advertising; photocopies; penalties.--

(1)  No person shall obtain or use a notary public commission in other than his or her legal name, and it is unlawful for a notary public to notarize his or her own signature. Any person applying for a notary public commission must submit proof of identity to the Department of State if so requested. Any person who violates the provisions of this subsection is guilty of a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.

(2)  The fee of a notary public may not exceed $10 for any one notarial act, except as provided in s. 117.04.

(3)

(a)  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 seal, 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.

(b)  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.

(4)  When notarizing a signature, a notary public shall sign and date a notarial certificate or jurat and shall specify which signature is being notarized and that the signer personally appeared before the notary public at the time of notarization. It is presumed, absent such specific notation by the notary public, that notarization is to all signatures.

(5)  A notary public may not notarize a signature on a document unless he or she personally knows, or has satisfactory evidence, that the person whose signature is to be notarized is the individual who is described in and who is executing the instrument. A notary public shall certify in the certificate of acknowledgment or jurat the type of identification, either based on personal knowledge or other form of identification, upon which the notary public is relying.

(a)  For purposes of this subsection, "personally knows" means having an acquaintance, derived from association with the individual, which establishes the individual's identity with at least a reasonable certainty.

(b)  For the purposes of this subsection, "satisfactory evidence" means the absence of any information, evidence, or other circumstances which would lead a reasonable person to believe that the person making the acknowledgment is not the person he or she claims to be and any one of the following:

1.  The sworn written statement of a credible witness personally known to the notary public that the person whose signature is to be notarized is personally known to the witness;

2.  The sworn written statement of two credible witnesses whose identities are proven to the notary public upon the presentation of satisfactory evidence that each of the following are true:

a.  The person whose signature is to be notarized is the person named in the document;

b.  The person whose signature is to be notarized is personally known to the witnesses;

c.  That it is the reasonable belief of the witnesses that the circumstances of the person whose signature is to be notarized are such that it would be very difficult or impossible for that person to obtain another form of identification;

d.  The person whose signature is to be notarized does not possess any of the identification documents specified in subparagraph 3.; and

e.  The witnesses do not have a financial interest in nor are parties to the underlying transaction; or

3.  Reasonable reliance on the presentation to the notary public of one of the following forms of identification, if the document is current or has been issued within the past 5 years:

a.  An identification card or driver's license issued by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles;

b.  A passport issued by the Department of State of the United States; or

c.  Reasonable reliance on the presentation of any one of the following forms of identification, if the document is current or has been issued within the past 5 years and bears a serial or other identifying number, and, if the document is a passport, the document is stamped by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service:

(I)  A passport issued by a foreign government;

(II)  A driver's license issued by a territory of the United States or a state other than Florida or by a Canadian or Mexican public agency authorized to issue drivers' licenses;

(III)  An identification card issued by a territory of the United States or a state other than Florida;

(IV)  An identification card issued by any branch of the armed forces of the United States;

(V)  An inmate identification card issued on or after January 1, 1991, by the Department of Corrections for an inmate who is in the custody of the department; or

(VI)  An identification card issued by the United States Department of Justice, Immigration, and Naturalization Service.

(6)  A notary public may not notarize a signature on a document if:

(a)  The person whose signature is being notarized is not in the presence of the notary public at the time the signature is notarized. Any notary public who violates this paragraph is guilty of a civil infraction, punishable by penalty not exceeding $5,000, and that conduct constitutes malfeasance and misfeasance in the conduct of official duties. It is no defense to the civil infraction specified in this paragraph that the notary public acted without intent to defraud. A notary public who violates this paragraph with the intent to defraud is guilty of violating s. 117.105.

(b)  The document is incomplete. However, an endorsement or assignment in blank of a negotiable or nonnegotiable note and the assignment in blank of any instrument given as security for such note is not deemed incomplete.

(c)  The notary public actually knows that the person signing the document has been adjudicated mentally incapacitated, and the notarization relates to a right that has been removed pursuant to s. 744.3215(2) or (3), and that the person has not been restored to capacity as a matter of record.

(d)  The person whose signature is to be notarized is the spouse, son, daughter, mother, or father of the notary public.

(e)  The notary public has a financial interest in or is a party to the underlying transaction; provided, however, a notary public who is an employee may notarize a signature for his or her employer and this employment is not a financial interest in the transaction nor is he or she a party to the transaction under this subsection unless he or she receives a benefit other than salary and any fee for services authorized by law. For purposes of this paragraph, a notary public who is an attorney does not have a financial interest in and is not a party to the underlying transaction evidenced by a notarized document if he or she notarizes a signature on that document for a client for whom he or she serves as an attorney of record and the attorney has no interest in the document other than a fee paid to him or her for legal services and any fee authorized by law for services as a notary public.

(7)  The employer of a notary public shall be liable to the persons involved for all damages proximately caused by the notary's official misconduct, if the notary public was acting within the scope of his or her employment at the time the notary engaged in the official misconduct.

(8)  Any person who acts as or otherwise willfully impersonates a notary public while not lawfully appointed and commissioned to perform notarial acts is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

(9)  Any person who unlawfully possesses a notary public official seal or any papers or copies relating to notarial acts is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

(10)  Any notary public who knowingly acts as a notary public after his or her commission has expired is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

(11)  Any notary public who lawfully changes his or her name shall forthwith request an amended commission from the Secretary of State and shall send $25, his or her current commission, and a notice of change form, obtained from the Secretary of State, which shall include the new name and contain a specimen of his or her official signature. The Secretary of State shall issue an amended commission to the notary public in the new name. A rider to the notary public's bond must accompany the notice of change form. After requesting an amended commission, the notary public may continue to perform notarial acts in his or her former name until receipt of the amended commission.

(12)  Any notary public who loses or misplaces his or her notary public seal of office shall forthwith mail or deliver notice of the fact to the Secretary of State.

(13)  A notary public who is not an attorney who advertises the services of a notary public in a language other than English, whether by radio, television, signs, pamphlets, newspapers, or other written communication, with the exception of a single desk plaque, shall post or otherwise include with the advertisement a notice in English and in the language used for the advertisement. The notice shall be of a conspicuous size, if in writing, and shall state: "I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY LICENSED TO PRACTICE LAW IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AND I MAY NOT GIVE LEGAL ADVICE OR ACCEPT FEES FOR LEGAL ADVICE." If the advertisement is by radio or television, the statement may be modified but must include substantially the same message.

(14)  Literal translation of the phrase "Notary Public" into a language other than English is prohibited in an advertisement for notarial services.

(15)

(a)  A notary public may supervise the making of a photocopy of an original document and attest to the trueness of the copy. A notary public may not supervise the making of a photocopy and may not attest to the trueness of a photocopy of a public record if a copy can be made by another public official.

(b)  A notary public must use a certificate in substantially the following form in notarizing an attested copy:

STATE OF FLORIDA
COUNTY OF __________


On this _____ day of __________, 19_____, I attest that the preceding or attached document is a true, exact, complete, and unaltered photocopy made by me of  (description of document)  presented to me by the document's custodian, ____________________, and, to the best of my knowledge, that the photocopied document is neither a public record nor a publicly recordable document, certified copies of which are available from an official source other than a notary public.

 (Official Notary Signature and Notary Seal) 

 (Name of Notary Typed, Printed or Stamped) 

(16)  The following form certificates are sufficient for the purposes indicated, if completed with the information required by this chapter. The specification of forms under this subsection does not preclude the use of other forms.

(a)  For an oath or affirmation:

STATE OF FLORIDA
COUNTY OF __________

 (Signature of Applicant) 

Sworn to (or affirmed) and subscribed before me this _____ day of __________, 19_____, by  (name of person making statement) .

 (Signature of Notary Public - State of Florida) 

 (Print, Type, or Stamp Commissioned Name of Notary Public) 

Personally Known __________ OR Produced Identification __________

Type of Identification Produced

(b)  For an acknowledgment in an individual capacity:

STATE OF FLORIDA
COUNTY OF __________


The foregoing instrument was acknowledged before me this _____ day of __________, 19 __________, by  (name of person acknowledging) 

 (Signature of Notary Public - State of Florida) 

 (Print, Type, or Stamp Commissioned Name of Notary Public) 

Personally Known __________ OR Produced Identification __________

Type of Identification Produced

(c)  For an acknowledgment in a representative capacity:

STATE OF FLORIDA
COUNTY OF __________


The foregoing instrument was acknowledged before me this _____ day of __________, 19 __________, by  (name of person)  as  (type of authority, . . . e.g. officer, trustee, attorney in fact)  for  (name of party on behalf of whom instrument was executed) 

 (Signature of Notary Public - State of Florida) 

 (Print, Type, or Stamp Commissioned Name of Notary Public) 

Personally Known __________ OR Produced Identification __________

Type of Identification Produced

History.--ch. 3874, 1889; RS 221; GS 306; RGS 417; CGL 483; s. 8, ch. 81-260; s. 4, ch. 91-291; s. 3, ch. 92-209; s. 4, ch. 93-62; s. 747, ch. 95-147; s. 1, ch. 97-241.