Montana video notary vs mobile: remote online notarization may be performed beginning October 1, 2019; the notary stays in Montana; the Secretary of State commissions the notary for four years; the filing fee is $25; section 1-5-619 prints a $25,000 bond and one rules page still prints $10,000; the recording is ten years; NotaryLive and Proof are both on the example list; and a listed notarial act is capped at $10

This page is a notary scorecard. It is not a mailbox directory. Form 1583 is the Postal Service form you sign so a mailbox store can receive your mail. It appears here because mailbox signup is a common reason a Montana owner needs a notary. The form is the use-case. The mailbox store is someone else’s product.

This page is not legal advice. An in-state commission is a notary license from Montana. A Montana-commissioned notary may perform remote online notarization, which is an electronic session, after notice to the Secretary of State under section 1-5-615. The technology page says this work may be performed beginning October 1, 2019. The notary must be physically located in Montana. The signer may be in Montana, elsewhere in the United States, or outside the United States if the record meets section 1-5-603. The same technology page also says the signer can be anywhere in the world. Section 1-5-619 prints a four-year term and a $25,000 bond. ARM 44.15.102 and the apply page print a $25 fee. The laws-and-rules reprint of ARM 44.15.103 still prints $10,000. Section 1-5-626 caps a listed notarial act at $10. The audio-visual recording is kept 10 years. The example provider list names NotaryLive and Proof. A regular Montana notary who never sent that notice still has to be in the room. A bank, a commercial mailbox (CMRA), or the Postal Service still decides whether this packet may be remote.

The Montana grade that is not a company letter

We grade the state rule first. Remote online notarization (RON) is a video session with a notary. A company cannot turn a regular Montana commission into a Secretary of State notice. It also cannot treat a company price as if section 1-5-626 were Idaho’s $5 cap. Neighboring Idaho prints $5 for any notarial act. Montana prints $10 for each listed act, and then an extra fee the statute says is not a dollar the law already chose.

Two video products, a $25 filing fee, and two bond numbers on official pages

Mixing the labels into one “is video legal in Montana?” checkout is how a Billings owner pays a company price and still has a notary who never sent the notice, or treats a company name as if the notice were already on file. Montana video work is legal. It is not automatic on the day the ordinary commission arrives. The example list names both NotaryLive and Proof. The $10 cap is the number on the act. It is not the $25 filing fee, and it is not Idaho’s $5.

• Remote online notarization is a notarial act by communication technology on an electronic record. Communication technology means a live, two-way audio and visual connection. The technology page says Montana notaries may perform it beginning October 1, 2019. The notary is physically located in Montana. You are not in the same room. The record is electronic. The signatures are digital.
• An in-person electronic act is a different product. The technology page calls it IPEN, which means in-person electronic notarization. The signer and the notary are physically together. The record is electronic. The page says this product has been legal in Montana since 2015. A checkout that only makes a video call is not that in-room product.
• A tangible remote acknowledgment is a third product. The technology page says Montana is one of only two states that currently allow it. The page does not name the other state. The notary is physically in Montana. You appear by live video. The page’s own label for the record is “Paper (tangible) document.” You sign it and it is then delivered to the notary, who has the signed record. Acknowledgments are the only act the page says can be done this way. The page’s own label for the notary’s mark is “Ink impression of the notary's seal/stamp.” That product is not the electronic video session.

The date on the technology page and the date on the rule reprint are not the same day. The technology page: remote online notarization may be performed beginning October 1, 2019. The highlights page: the House Bill 370 changes, including full remote online notarization and remote notarization of tangible records, are effective October 1, 2019. The statutes-and-rules reprint of ARM 44.15.103 adds this history line: amended, 2019 MAR p. 1530, effective September 7, 2019. That September date is the rule reprint. It is not a second start date for the October 1 sentence on the technology page.

The ordinary commission comes first. § 1-5-619: the applicant is at least 18, a citizen or permanent legal resident of the United States, able to read and write English, and meets one of these ties to Montana: residence; spouse or legal dependent of military personnel on active duty in this state; a place of business in Montana registered under Title 35, plus any local business license; regular employment at an office, business, or facility in Montana by an employer registered and licensed to do business here; or a current Montana professional license. The applicant must pass an exam, meet the education rules in section 1-5-620, and not be disqualified under section 1-5-621. The Secretary of State issues a commission for a 4-year term. A person may not hold two Montana commissions at once. The apply page prints the same five ties to Montana. The 2019 reprint of ARM 44.15.101 on the statutes-and-rules page prints three: Montana residence, a place of employment or practice in Montana, or the military spouse or legal dependent. It does not print the registered-business line, the regular-employment line, or the professional-license line. The older reprint on the laws-and-rules page prints “a resident of or has a place of employment or practice in Montana,” and its history line stops in 2015. The statute, the apply page, and the two rule reprints are all official. This page prints them. It does not choose which list controls.

The $25 is the filing fee, and the statute does not print that dollar. Section 1-5-619 says the applicant pays a filing fee set by rule, and that the fee is nonrefundable. ARM 44.15.102, on both Secretary of State reprints: the applicant shall submit a $25 nonrefundable application fee. The history line on that rule is a 2001 amendment, and it cites section 1-5-408. The current commission section is 1-5-619. The apply page says the application fee is $25, which is non-refundable, and that it may be paid by card or eCheck. The statute does not print $25. The rule and the apply page do. They print the same dollar. The apply page also says applications must be filed online, and that submissions that are not online are returned unprocessed. The online system will not take a renewal more than 30 days before the commission expires, or after the 30-day grace period that follows expiration. Section 1-5-619(4)(f) says the application, bond, certification, and fee go to the Secretary of State within 30 days before or after the bond’s effective date or the old commission’s expiration.

The bond amount is printed twice, and the two official reprints do not match. Section 1-5-619(4)(d): an assurance in the form of a surety bond, or its functional equivalent, in the amount of $25,000. It must cover acts during the commission term. The notary may perform notarial acts only while a valid assurance is on file. The apply page says obtain a notary surety bond in the amount of $25,000. The bonds page prints “Statutory Amount – $25,000.” The statutes-and-rules reprint of ARM 44.15.103: a bond of $25,000 for the full four-year term, on the form the Secretary of State prescribes, amended 2019 MAR p. 1530, effective September 7, 2019, implementing section 1-5-619. The laws-and-rules reprint of the same rule number still says $10,000, and its history line stops at a 2001 amendment that implements section 1-5-405. The highlights page says the new bond amount is $25,000 for commissions effective October 1, 2019 or later, and it tells an applicant who receives a $10,000 bond to contact the bonding agent. This page prints both amounts. It does not choose a winner. A bond is a promise of money if the notary fails the duties of the office. It is not the price of your session, and it is not the $25 filing fee.

The price of buying that bond is a different sentence, and it is an estimate. The apply page says the cost varies, but is usually about $50 to $70 for the four-year term. The bonds page prints “Approximate Cost – $50 – 70” for the four-year term. Those lines are the office’s own “usually” and “approximate” words. The statute does not set the premium. We will not turn “usually about $50 to $70” into a required fee.

The exam is required, and the two rule reprints do not describe the same test. § 1-5-620: a new or renewing applicant must pass an examination based on a course that covers the laws, rules, procedures, and ethics of notarial acts. On and after July 1, 2020, a new applicant also needs at least 4 hours of approved education in the previous 12 months. A renewing applicant needs 4 hours in the previous 12 months, or 2 hours in each of the previous 3 years. The section says the Secretary of State collects fees commensurate with the cost of education and examination. It does not print a dollar. The apply page does not print an exam price. We will not invent one. The apply page, quoting ARM 44.15.101(4)(a), says new and renewing applicants must pass the exam no more than six months before the application, that 80 percent is passing, and that three failed attempts mean a three-month wait. The statutes-and-rules reprint prints that same 80 percent rule, with a 2019 amendment effective September 7, 2019. The laws-and-rules reprint of subsection (4) says only an applicant who is not currently commissioned must submit an exam certificate, and its history line stops in 2015. It does not print 80 percent. Both reprints are on Secretary of State pages. This page does not choose which exam rule is the one the portal enforces.

The remote gate sits on top of the commission. § 1-5-615: before the first notarial act that uses an electronic notarization system or communication technology, the notary notifies the Secretary of State, identifies the system or technology, completes an approved course, passes an exam on that course, and submits proof. If the Secretary of State has set standards, the system or technology must meet them, and the office approves a system that complies. The technology page’s registration list matches those steps and adds the Notary Public Information Update form. A regular commission, with no notice, is still a room job.

The list is an example, and both company names on this site are on it. The technology page says the list is provided to exemplify Montana-approved technology providers. The information was current at approval. The office tells you to verify details with the provider because the business model can change. The page does not call the list complete. The names, service boxes, and industry boxes on that page are:

NotaryLive is on that page, in the RON box, with the industry box blank. Proof is on that page, in the RON box, with the industry box blank. Notarize is a separate row, RON, with Mortgage in the industry box. BlueNotary and OneNotary are also named. Escrow Tab’s services box says IPEN only. The definitions on the same page name four methods: traditional, IPEN, R.O.N., and remote notarization of a tangible record. Several service boxes also print the letters RIN. The definitions section does not spell those letters out. This page will not invent an expansion. Proof and NotaryLive are companies on this site. Both names are on this Montana list. A checkout that shows either name is the company’s screen. It is not a statement that this Montana notary named that technology on a notice the Secretary of State already has.

Read the fee sentences before you treat a company price as Montana law. § 1-5-626: a notary may charge a fee not to exceed $10 for each of these acts: an acknowledgment, witnessing a signature, a verification on oath or affirmation, certifying a transcript, certifying a copy, a certification of fact, or another notarial act the law allows. The notary may charge an additional fee, as provided by rule, to use an electronic system or communication technology, or to travel. The notary must explain that the extra fee is on top of the $10 line and that the extra fee is an amount not determined by law. You must agree to that amount in advance. A travel fee must be equal to or less than the standard mileage rates allowed by the Internal Revenue Service. The section does not print a cents figure. We will not invent one. If the notary charges, the notary must display a fee list in English. The 2019 reprint of ARM 44.15.109 says the additional fee may cover travel, an electronic system or communications technology, or the cost of a journal or recording copy. It does not print a dollar for that extra fee. The older laws-and-rules reprint of ARM 44.15.109 mentions only travel, in accordance with section 1-5-626, and its history line stops in 2015. Idaho caps any notarial act at $5. We will not turn Montana’s $10, or the “not determined by law” sentence, into that $5. A company sticker near $25 can be the company’s price. It is not the $10 cap, and it is not the $25 filing fee.

Where you may sit is § 1-5-603, and the technology page uses a wider sentence. The notary must be physically located in this state. You may be in Montana, outside Montana but in the United States, or outside the United States if the act is not known to be prohibited where you are and the record pertains to a United States filing, court, government, or other covered entity, to property in the United States, or to a transaction substantially connected with the United States. A notarial act done by communication technology is considered performed in Montana and is governed by Montana law, no matter where you sit. The technology page says the signer can be anywhere in the world. The statute prints the extra test for a signer outside the United States. Both are official. This page does not drop either sentence. Section 1-5-605(4) is a different chair: the commission lets the notary perform notarial acts in any Montana county, or in a bordering state if that border state recognizes the notary’s authority. That sentence is not a waiver of the remote rule. A remote act still requires the notary to be physically in Montana.

The ID check has more than one door, and identity proofing is one name on the technology list. Identity proofing is a check that you are the person named on the document. § 1-5-603: personal knowledge means dealings that give reasonable certainty you are who you claim to be. Satisfactory evidence can be a passport, a driver’s license, or a government nondriver identification credential, current or expired, and if expired, not expired for more than 3 years. Another government identification can work if it has your signature or photograph, is satisfactory to the notary, and meets that same 3-year expiration limit. A credible witness can also identify you. If you appear by communication technology, the notary has satisfactory evidence when two or more different types of technologies, processes, or services approved by the Secretary of State identify you. The statute’s examples are a dynamic knowledge-based authentication assessment, a valid public key certificate, identity proofing, and remote presentation with credential analysis, or another means the rule prescribes. The technology page’s current approved types are dynamic knowledge-based authentication, a public key certificate, identity proofing, credential analysis and remote presentation, and blockchain. The statute’s “such as” list does not print the word blockchain. The rule reprints on the two Secretary of State pages do not print it either. The technology page does. This page prints both lists. The technology page also says the provider usually finishes that check before the notary joins, and that the notary has the final say to accept or refuse the identification. The statute and the page do not print a question count, a percent correct, a two-minute clock, or a retake for that check. The 80 percent figure on the apply page is the notary’s own commission exam. It is not your identity quiz. If the check cannot finish, a mobile notary or a walk-in is the product that can finish.

The certificate has Montana’s short forms, and the seal line is a form label. § 1-5-610 prints short forms. For a remote act when you are outside the United States, subsection (9) says the record was acknowledged, signed, or signed and sworn to before the notary by use of communication technology, and it includes your declaration of where you were and that the record meets the United States connection test. Subsection (10) is the short form when you are in the United States, in Montana or outside it. The form’s own label on the seal line is “(Official Stamp)” in some subsections and “(Official stamp)” in others. ARM 44.15.107 is titled “Official Stamp.” It describes a rectangle about 1 inch by 2 1/2 inches, blue or black ink, a circular seal, and the words “Notary Public for the State of Montana,” plus “Residing at” and the city or town and state where the notary lives. We will not add a longer certificate and call it the statute.

The session file is part of the remote act, and the journal is a second clock that covers every act. § 1-5-618: if the act uses communication technology, the notary makes an audiovisual recording of the entire communication and keeps it for 10 years from the date of the recording, unless it goes to a repository the Secretary of State has approved. The notary keeps sole possession, except for that repository path. A journal is required for all notarial acts, not only remote ones. A tangible journal is a permanent bound register. An electronic journal is permanent and tamper-evident. The entry includes the date and time, a description of the record, the type of act, the full name and address of each principal, and the fee, if any. For a remote act, the journal points to where the recording is stored instead of collecting the principal’s signature in the book. The notary keeps the journal for 10 years after the last notarial act written in it. The journal may not hold a Social Security number, a passport number, a driver’s license number, or a birth date. ARM 44.15.110, new in the 2019 reprint effective September 7, 2019, says who may hold the journal and which form to file. It does not shorten the 10-year clock. ARM 44.15.108, in the older reprint, says the remote session is recorded, the signal is live, and the recording includes the notary’s name, the commission expiration, the date and time, the state and county where the notary is, and the type of act. That rule’s history line stops in 2015.

A notary may solemnize a marriage, and that sentence is not a video permission. § 1-5-630, enacted in Chapter 123, Laws of 2019: as provided in 40-1-301, and subject to rules the Secretary of State adopts, a notary public may solemnize a marriage. The technology page says acknowledgments are the only act that can be performed as a tangible remote notarization. It does not say a marriage can be solemnized on the electronic video product. We will not invent a ban the statute did not print, and we will not invent a permission the technology page did not print. If the document is a marriage, ask the clerk before you buy a video session.

The phone lines are not the same number. The apply page, under questions about becoming a notary, prints (406) 444-1877 and sosnotary@mt.gov. The office block on that page and on the technology page prints Montana Capitol Building, Room 260, and a front desk number of 406-444-2034. The pages print both numbers. They do not say which desk answers a remote-notarization question.

What actually needs a notary on a Montana LLC / bank stack

A Montana limited liability company is formed by signing and filing articles of organization with the Secretary of State. 35-8-201: one or more persons may form the company by signing and filing the articles. The company exists when the articles are filed, unless a delayed date is specified. The section does not require a notary acknowledgment. § 35-8-202 says the articles set out the name, whether the company has a term, the complete business mailing address of the principal office, the registered-agent information, and how the company is managed. § 35-8-211 says the Secretary of State establishes the filing fees. It does not print a dollar. The business services fee page prints $35 for articles of organization, plus $50 for each series member named in a series company. The statute and the fee page are not the same kind of sentence. People still show up asking for a notary because a bank, a processor, a landlord, or a mailbox asked for a sworn statement on a different document that sits next to the articles.

This page does not publish a bank-by-bank or county-by-county “accepts video” list. If you need the operating address so a bank will open the account, that is a different product. It is not this site’s directory.

Open all night versus booked, in this state

Because in-state remote online notarization is live, all-night service is a real option for many Montana documents, if the receiving desk will take a remote act and if the notary actually sent the notice and named the technology. A Montana remote notary or a notary licensed in another video-notary state can both close that session when the desk accepts it. Company availability letters live on the directory, once.

If the desk wants you and the notary in the same room, the identity check fails, or the person you hired never finished the notice, you are shopping store hours or a booked house call. That is the B on walk-in / mobile. Counters keep store hours. The listed act is capped at $10. Travel and the technology extra are amounts you agree to first. The trip is booked. It is not a failure of § 1-5-615.

Montana prints a $10 maximum on each listed notarial act. It does not print a dollar for the extra technology fee. The consumer starting prices we cite on company cards, about $25 a session, are still the company pages as of August 2026. Those are company stickers. A sticker at $25 is not the $10 cap. It is also not the $25 filing fee, and it is not the bond. Idaho’s act cap is $5. Montana’s listed-act cap is $10, plus an extra the statute says is not determined by law.

Company letters live on the directory

Availability, identity check, and session-record letters for Proof/Notarize, NotaryLive, OneNotary, BlueNotary, mobile, and walk-in are on the directory, once. This page keeps the Montana rule and the document table. Official starting prices we cite: NotaryLive about $25 per session; Proof/Notarize about $25 for the first notarization and $15 for each extra notarization; OneNotary online about $25 and mobile from about $80. We do not print a session price for BlueNotary. Those stickers are company prices. They are not a statement that the notary on your screen named that technology on a notice. On the technology page, NotaryLive, Proof, Notarize, OneNotary, and BlueNotary are named. Being named on an example list is not the notice § 1-5-615 already requires. Independent Montana mobiles are not that OneNotary sticker. Counters set their own prices inside the $10 cap and the agreed extra. They do not get a second cap the statute did not print.

Form 1583 as a Montana use-case, without becoming a mailbox review

USPS will not let a commercial mailbox (CMRA) hand you mail until PS Form 1583 (June 2024) is complete. Form 1583 is the Postal Service form you sign so that store can receive your mail. You sign in person with the store (or an authorized employee) or with a notary public. The form’s note allows a live video call. A Montana signer can use a Montana remote notary or an out-of-state remote notary. That is the same idea as Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Other states have their own rules. See Alabama, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, or South Carolina if that is your state. Idaho is the neighbor. Idaho’s own notaries can do the video job, under a $5 cap and a commission statute that prints a $10,000 bond. Those figures stay on the Idaho page.

What we will not do here: grade mailbox brands, pick a Billings, Missoula, or Great Falls storefront, or explain store flags. Those are mailbox questions. The notary question is: did the session match the form (U.S.-licensed notary, two IDs, home address matching the address ID), and will the store accept that session? Details live on Form 1583 notarization.

A sequence that usually wastes less money

1. Read the receiving desk’s current instruction. If they printed “in person,” do not buy a video session to argue with them. Montana’s listed act is capped at $10. Idaho’s act cap is $5. They are not the same state.
2. If they accept a remote act, you may use a Montana remote notary or a notary licensed in another video-notary state. The Secretary of State is the authority for the commission, the $25 fee, the notice, and the example provider list. NASS and NNA are the country sources. The company’s live notary pool is the day-of fact. Do not assume every Montana notary on a checkout screen already sent the notice. The example list does name NotaryLive and Proof. The notice is still a separate step.
3. Budget the extras from the official page, extra act, extra signer, witness, before you upload a six-signature packet at the $25 sticker. The listed notarial act is capped at $10. A technology extra still has to be disclosed and agreed first, and the statute does not print that extra as a dollar. A witness fee on a company page is not a person sitting next to you.
4. If the identity check fails, stop treating another quiz as a plan the statute did not write. Section 1-5-603 does not print a retake count for identity proofing. The 80 percent rule is the notary’s commission exam on one rule reprint. Switch to a mobile notary or a walk-in. NotaryLive’s FAQ describes a Personal Verifier path. That is their product, not a universal escape hatch, and it is not a sentence in § 1-5-603.
5. Keep the session confirmation. The value of a Montana remote session in a later dispute is the audio-visual recording § 1-5-618 already requires, kept 10 years from the date of the recording, and the journal that section already requires for every act, kept 10 years after the last act in that journal. The value of a walk-in is the act the desk already said it wanted, at a fee inside the $10 cap, plus any travel amount you already agreed to.