What is a jurat: the sworn notary certificate

What is a jurat

A jurat is wording the notary completes. It is not the document itself. On New York, the Department of State Notary Public License Law (September 2026) says a jurat is the part of an affidavit where the notary certifies that it was sworn to before the notary. The jurat is not the affidavit. The form in that book is “Sworn to before me,” with the date.

That same book says an affidavit is a signed statement, duly sworn to, before a notary or another officer who can administer an oath. The person making the affidavit has to personally appear before the notary and take the oath.

On California, the Notary Public Handbook (January 2026) points to Government Code section 8202. A jurat is identified by the words “Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed).” In that certificate the notary certifies four things. You personally appeared on the date and in the county on the certificate. You signed in the notary’s presence. The notary administered an oath or affirmation. The notary identified you.

The handbook gives one acceptable oath: “Do you swear or affirm that the statements in this document are true?” Raising a hand is a custom in that handbook. It is not a legal requirement there.

Read the line under the California jurat. The officer verifies only the identity of the person who signed. The officer does not verify that the document is true, accurate, or valid. You are the one who swears the statements are true. The notary certifies that the oath happened.

A California jurat cannot be added if the document was mailed or delivered and you did not personally appear, take the oath, and sign in the notary’s presence. That is true even if the notary already knows you. Bring a current government photo ID and the document, still unsigned. Which ID a state accepts is on what do you need to get something notarized.

Jurat vs acknowledgement

People search “jurat vs acknowledgement.” The laws quoted on this page spell it acknowledgment. Pennsylvania uses both spellings in one fee-schedule row. The job is the same either way. An acknowledgment is not a jurat.

In an acknowledgment, you tell the notary that you signed the document. You are not swearing that the statements in it are true.

The California handbook says the acknowledgment certificate, set out in Civil Code section 1189, certifies three things. You personally appeared. The notary identified you. You acknowledged executing the document. That list does not say the notary administered an oath. It does not say you signed in the notary’s presence. The jurat list does both.

Florida Statutes § 117.05(4) says the certificate shows the type of act, an oath or an acknowledgment, by the words “sworn” or “acknowledged.” The oath form in § 117.05(13) begins “Sworn to (or affirmed) and subscribed before me.” The individual acknowledgment begins “The foregoing instrument was acknowledged before me.”

Texas treats both as notarial certificates. The Secretary of State’s online notary educational information says a notarial certificate describes the steps the notary took. Acknowledgments and jurats are the examples on that page. The sample online jurat says “Sworn to and subscribed before me.” The sample online acknowledgment says the person “acknowledged to me that they executed the same.”

New York’s license law defines an acknowledgment as a formal declaration, before an authorized officer, by the person who executed the document, that the execution is that person’s own act. That is the signing. It is not the oath on a jurat.

Arizona A.R.S. § 41-251 does not use the word jurat. It uses “verification on oath or affirmation.” That means a declaration, on oath or affirmation before a notarial officer, that a statement in the document is true. The statute’s word for the document is “record.” An acknowledgment, in the same section, means a declaration that you signed for the purpose stated in the document.

Pennsylvania prices the two acts on different lines. The Department of State notary public fee schedule lists “taking acknowledgement” and, separately, “taking verification on oath or affirmation.” The schedule does not use the word jurat. The acknowledgement row uses both “acknowledgement” and “acknowledgment.”

Jurat meaning

Jurat meaning, in the sources above, is the certificate for a sworn statement. The notary certifies the ceremony. You appeared. You took the oath. Where that state’s form says so, you signed in front of the notary. The notary is not agreeing that the facts in the document are true.

Use a jurat when the document tells you to swear, affirm, or subscribe and swear. An affidavit is the usual document for that oath. Use an acknowledgment when the document says you acknowledge that you signed it. If the form already names the certificate, do not swap one for the other. The office that will receive the document chose the wording.

What is a jurat notary

A jurat notary is not a separate license. It is a notary public completing a jurat. The license is an in-state commission. The notary’s job on a jurat is the certificate: identity, the oath, and the signature rules that state prints. The notary does not swear that your statement is true.

New York’s license law says that taking an acknowledgment or an affidavit by telephone, or any other way that skips the person’s actual personal appearance before the notary, is illegal. A remote session is a different path. The next section says what the Department prints for that path.

Where a jurat can be finished

You have three products. A video call. A mobile notary. Or a walk-in during open hours. Which one can finish a jurat depends on the notary’s commission and on the office that will receive the document. How to pick a product is on how to notarize a document. This section only says what these states print about a sworn certificate.

Florida’s oath form lets the notary mark physical presence or online notarization. Section 117.05(4) says the certificate states whether you appeared by physical presence or by audio-video communication technology. A Florida online notary can use that video path after the registration on the Florida page, if the receiving office accepts it.

Texas prints a sample jurat for an online notarization. The sample includes the sentence “This notarial act was an online notarization.” Online notarization, on that Secretary of State page, is a notarial act by two-way video and audio. A regular Texas commission still needs you in the room. That split is on the Texas page.

New York’s notary FAQ says that for a remote online notarial act, the jurat must include an obvious statement that the act used communication technology. Which New York documents stay off that electronic session is on the New York page. Do not assume every sworn document can use the video path.

The January 2026 California handbook says the rest of the online notarization law, including remote online notarization duties, becomes operative when the Secretary of State finishes the technology project, or by January 1, 2030, whichever is earlier. Until then, a California notary finishes a jurat with you in the room. You appear, you take the oath, and you sign in that notary’s presence. If the desk wants a California notary, the first trip is a mobile notary or a walk-in.

A mobile notary drives to you. Use that visit when the receiving office wants you in the room, or when the notary’s state still requires the room for this act. Agree on the travel total before you book. How that visit is priced is on mobile notary services.

A walk-in is a bank lobby or a UPS Store counter during open hours. Call first. Ask whether a notary is on duty, and ask whether that notary can complete a jurat that day. A bank and a UPS Store each set a counter price. We do not print a price we have not read on that counter’s own page. Company grades for a video session live on the directory. Methodology explains the three letters. Those letters are not a certificate type and not a price.