Massachusetts remote notarization: the law exists, the switch is off

Can a Massachusetts notary notarize remotely today

No. The Secretary of the Commonwealth’s remote online notarization page says a 2023 law lets notaries use online communication platforms, but that they first must complete training and notify the office through an online notification form. It then says the training and the notification form are not yet available, so notaries should not use online remote platforms at this time.

The same page says the office asked for public input, with responses due April 16, 2024, and is reviewing them to write the rules. It says more information will come when draft rules are ready for public comment. We read the page in November 2026 and it still said the same thing.

So when you search for a “virtual notary Massachusetts,” you will not find a Massachusetts-commissioned notary doing it legally yet. The companies on our Massachusetts scorecard use notaries commissioned in other states.

What happened to the temporary video notarizations

Massachusetts did allow a temporary form of video notarization under acts passed in 2020 and 2022. That is over. A Land Court memo updated December 29, 2023 says the temporary “virtual” notarization in Section 12 of Chapter 22 of the Acts of 2022 was repealed effective March 31, 2023. It was replaced by remote online notarization in Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023, which the memo calls significantly different.

For registered land, the memo says a document notarized on or after March 31, 2023 must have been notarized in the physical presence of the notary. It also says that, until further instruction, no registry district should accept for registration a document notarized remotely under the new law. The Land Court is waiting for the Secretary’s rules before it writes its own.

If your document is a deed or another record for registered land, that memo is the reason to plan for an in-person signing.

What the law will require once it is switched on

The law is M.G.L. c. 222, § 28. Reading it now tells you what a Massachusetts video session will look like.

• The notary is in Massachusetts. The notary must be physically located in the Commonwealth.
• The notary registers first. Before the first remote act, the notary registers as a remote notary with the Secretary, gives notice, and names the technology, with proof of any required training.
• The signer can be elsewhere. That includes outside the United States, if the record relates to a U.S. matter, U.S. property, or a U.S. transaction, and the signer’s country does not prohibit it.
• Identity takes two checks. Personal knowledge, an oath from a credible witness who is unaffected by the document, or at least two different types of identity proofing.
• The session is recorded and kept 10 years.
• The certificate says so. It must show the act was performed remotely using communication technology and name the Massachusetts county where the notary sat.

Some documents are carved out. Section 28 bars remote notarization of wills, codicils, and records related to the electoral process. For a residential mortgage or a deed in a real estate closing, only a Massachusetts-licensed attorney who is a notary, or a non-attorney under an attorney’s direct supervision, may notarize remotely, and the certificate must give the attorney’s Board of Bar Overseers registration number.

Why a will usually needs witnesses in the room in many states is on can a notary notarize a will.

What to do if you are in Massachusetts now

1. Ask the receiving office first. A bank, a court, a registry, or a buyer’s lender decides what it will accept. Ask whether it takes a remote notarization from a notary commissioned in another state, or wants ink in front of a notary.
2. If it wants ink, use a walk-in counter or a mobile notary. A Massachusetts notary can do this the usual way, in person.
3. If it accepts a remote act, use a video notary whose notary holds a commission for remote acts in that notary’s own state. The session is described in how a remote online notary works.
4. If it is registered land, plan for an in-person signing. The Land Court memo says remotely notarized documents are not accepted for registration until further instruction.

Why the rules will matter for your grades

Once Massachusetts notaries can register, the state’s rules will set two of the things we grade. Ten years of recording storage is longer than the five years Tennessee sets for its online notaries, or the seven years for an Illinois electronic notary. Two required identity checks shape the ID check. The methodology page explains how those grades work. We will update the Massachusetts scorecard when the Secretary posts the training and the form.

Next step

Read the Massachusetts scorecard for the companies, the in-state rule, and the documents table. If the receiving office takes a remote notarization from another state’s notary, the buttons below are video notaries, ordered by grade.