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Should I become a notary public?

Suave Notary - Sep 16 2021


Well, it depends. First you should look up what are the state requirements. How much money will it cost? Can you bear it? The bond... the education costs... whatever else is the state requirements are. If you decide that you still wanna be a notary public then I have several questions for you:

If you answered 'yes' to four of the questions then you should be okay with being a notary public.

While a notary public CAN make a lot of money doing this, they should not count on it. It is inadvisable to immediately quit your current career and jump straight into this. At one point you can make over $100,000 a month doing this but this is rare and requires a rather extreme dedication to the craft and quite a bit of people skill. Most likely your income from this will become 'beer-money' which is fine. Other times your employer will want you to become a notary so they have in-house notary for convenience.

If you are a liar and a cheat then you probably also have a criminal record which would disqualify you in many areas from becoming a notary public in the first place. Notary publics are TRUSTED witnesses, so if a notary public is not a decent person, who over looks glaring problems, takes acknowledgements when an oath is required, then that bodes poorly. People will remember you. If it is discovered that you knowingly breached what a notary is forbidden to do then you can be sued and you can end up in jail. That said, a notary public sometimes must feel the embarrassment of having to tell a signer that he messed something up (example: all parties agree that this is valid and sign it. One person signs it then another person notices a mistake - oops! You are not allowed to change it now since that one person signed it! However, if there is more than one copy of the document... One can cross out stuff and change it, providing that no one has signed it yet) and to 'fix it right here and now' would violate the law even if all parties agreed that they would not say anything.

Being a notary public means being a witness or to take acknowledgements. This involves other parties. Now it is the digital age and some states like Florida has made it so that a notary can function electronically. By typing one's name on a line would constitute a valid signature, for example (something like this would require a look into one's own state laws). But for most notaries, they will meet up in person with a signer. Can you stand being around them for more than one hour? Are you scared of catching germs or other airborne illnesses? Can you tolerate a child stealing your pens and not giving them back? What if someone decides to shoot you because you are an honest person!? Questions all notary publics must consider at one point.

Attention to detail is important. As much skill as it takes to watch someone sign a document, it takes more skill to notice discrepancies a document or identification. "John B. Becket" is different from "John B. Beckett." A notary NEEDS to be able to notice these things or they can be liable for notarizing things they should not have.

If you become a notary without understanding or remembering state laws then you are bound to violate various notary public laws. What do you do if someone comes with you and wants a document notarized but did not specify any form of notarial certificate? FL laws dictate that unless the SIGNER tells you what certificate to use, you might as well just stop because you are forbidden from making legal advice. What is the difference between a jurat, oath, and acknowledgement according to your state? Can a notary public even notarize a document without valid forms of identification? In the state of Florida, technically yes, but various rules apply. Though, with banks and escrow companies, they will want the signers valid identification. What do you do when some lady doesn't understand what she is reading? FL laws dictate that you are forbidden from interpreting the document for someone else, unless of course you are a lawyer, so the only thing you really can do is read it to her and hope your soothing voice makes her understand.

So, should you become a notary public? That is up to you.


This document is a reflection of the authors opinion and should not constituted as an authoritative source on this topic: consult an attorney who has been licensed to practice law.