How to notarize a document

How to notarize a document

The job is the same in every product. You bring the document. You show a current government photo ID. You sign while the notary watches. The notary completes the certificate. What changes is where you do it.

Start with the office that will receive the document. Ask whether it will accept a video session. If that office wants you in the room, use a mobile notary or a walk-in. Do not pay for a video session and then argue with the desk.

1. Pick one product: a video call, a mobile notary, or a walk-in.
2. Have the document ready, and have a current government photo ID.
3. Sign while the notary can see you sign. Everyone who must sign has to be there, in the room or on the call.
4. Keep the confirmation the notary or the company gives you.

One document has its own rule. Form 1583 is the Postal Service form you sign so a mailbox store can receive your mail. The June 2024 form lets you sign with a notary in the room or on a live video call. The watcher is the store employee or a notary public licensed in the United States. The path is on Form 1583.

Who can notarize a document

A notary public can notarize a document. The license is an in-state commission. A bank employee can do this job only when that person holds a current commission. Call the branch and ask who is working. We do not print a bank’s rule for who it will serve.

For a walk-in or a mobile visit, you meet a notary commissioned in the state where you meet. For a video call, the notary needs a state that allows remote online notarization, plus any extra online commission that state requires. The notary’s license state is the law for that notarization. You may sit in a different state when that law allows it, and when the receiving office accepts it.

Texas issues a separate Online Notary Public commission. A regular Texas commission still needs you in the room. Florida requires a separate Online Notary Public registration, and the online notary is physically in Florida. New York lets a notary do the video session after registering as an electronic notary. A regular New York commission still needs you in the room.

California is a different case. A California-commissioned notary cannot perform remote online notarization until the Secretary of State finishes the technology project, or by January 1, 2030, whichever is earlier. If the desk wants a California notary, the first trip is a mobile notary or a walk-in.

The National Association of Secretaries of State reports that 47 states plus Washington, D.C. have a law that allows remote e-notarization. The National Notary Association is the other country source we use. A law on the books is not the same as a session you can finish tonight. Which states let their own notaries run the video session is the remote online notary guide. This page does not reprint that list.

Where can I get a document notarized

You have three places to go.

A video platform. You stay where you are. The notary joins on a live video call. Company grades for hours, the ID check, and the saved file are on the directory, once. Methodology explains the three letters. Those letters are not a price and not a list of offices.

A booked visit. The notary drives to a home, an office, or a hospital. That product is the next section.

A walk-in counter. You go to a bank lobby or a UPS Store during open hours. Call first. Ask whether a notary is there that day. A document on a Sunday night does not get a lobby notary. We do not invent a bank price or a UPS Store price.

Ask the receiving office before you choose a place. Maryland law says nothing in the remote-notary section requires any person to accept the remote act. If that office wants you in the room, the video platform is the wrong place.

What is a mobile notary

A mobile notary is a person who drives to you. It is one of the three products. It is the in-person visit, booked ahead, with the notary coming to you.

Use this path when the receiving office wants you in the room, when you cannot travel, or when a video ID check cannot be finished. The visit is booked. It is not open all night. The notary holds an in-state commission for the state where you meet.

OneNotary lists mobile from about $80, retrieved August 2026. That price is one company. A local mobile notary sets a different travel fee. We do not invent that fee. BlueNotary does not print a consumer session price we can cite. We do not fill one in. BlueNotary is a video company. It is not a house-call price.

How much does it cost to notarize a document

Keep two numbers apart. The state number is the most that notary may charge. The company number is the price on the company page. A maximum is a ceiling. The notary may charge less. The statute does not set the company checkout. Whether the video session is free is a different guide: is online notary free.

Published starting prices, retrieved August 2026, are the company numbers in that table.

These ceilings are examples from the state pages linked on this guide. Pennsylvania prints an acknowledgment at $5 for the first name. Electronic and remote notaries may charge up to an additional $20 per act. Nevada allows $25 per signature for an electronic acknowledgment or jurat, and $25 for an oath or affirmation. Arizona allows no charge, up to $10 per notarial act, including a remote act. A notarial act is the notarization that rule prices. The ceiling includes zero.

The same kind of ceiling is on the other state pages linked above. Texas allows up to $25 per online notarization on top of the regular fees, and the office example is $35 for one signer. New York allows up to $25 for an electronic notarization, and $2 for a traditional in-person notarization unless another law allows more. Maryland allows up to $8 for an original act and up to $30 for a remote act. California publishes a statutory maximum for an in-person act. The California page does not quote a dollar amount, so we do not invent one.