What is Notary?
A notary is a person appointed by the state government of the United States of America.
The notary is appointed and carries the responsibility of state legislature whose primary work is to render their services to the public and help them with all the official government registered documents.
A notary has to check all the government official documents to be notified in front of him with the witness of such document and releasing those official documents after verifying its facts with a signature and the seal.
Common Basic Requirements to Become a Notary:
1. Age eligibility:
A person who wants to become a notary should at least be a minimum 18 years old. This is the minimum age criteria needed to apply for a notary. If a person needs to apply to become a notary then minimum criteria would be to clear the eligibility criteria.
2. A resident of that particular state:
A person who has cleared his/her age criteria can be able to apply for a notary only if he/she is the permanent resident(PR) of that particular state. Otherwise, that person won’t be eligible to apply for a notary.
3. Good character and ability:
A person who has become 18 years and also he/she is the permanent resident of that particular state can be eligible to apply for a notary. Then, to become a notary he/she needs to apply for a character certificate.
One can get it by verifying that there is no criminal record under his/her name or was not involved in any kind of fraud and much more. After getting a clear conduct certificate of good character, he/she is eligible to become a notary.
Steps to Become a Notary:
To become a notary of a certain state, a person needs to be sure of all the above basic requirements. Once he/she is eligible to become a notary then that particular person starts collecting information about the further procedure.
The following are the steps to follow to become a notary.
1. Start taking legal training:
A notary is a lawyer or a person who is designated to sign all the legal documents to check its facts. And there is a statement going around that only a person studying law or other law practice, students or candidates can apply to become a notary, but this is not true.
Actually to become a notary a person needs to get formal training from the legal firm so that he/she would get knowledge about the legal notary terms.
2. Verify the criminal records:
A person applying for a notary needs to be clear about his/her criminal records. Because if any criminal record for small acts of theft also can make a person applying for a notary application void.
There shouldn’t be criminal records of a person applying for a notary. Even if there any legal record on such issues, then that person can clear all the issues and get a clean certificate of clear non-criminal records to submit before applying for a notary.
3. Any availability of special training before appearing for an exam:
A person applying for a notary needs to understand all the eligibility of the application requirement. In some of the states, there are separate rules for such a notary examination.
If there any special rule that a person applying for a notary needs to avail special training as per the state notary rule, then he/she should start taking special training to become a notary. By joining for training, a person can appear for the notary exam without any issues.
4. Appear for mandatory state board notary exam:
After submission of all the application and verifying all the documents can start taking an exam conducted by a state notary board. To appear in such a state conducted notary examination a person needs to take all the elements seriously.
This kind of state test is conducted to issue certain licenses to those candidates whose examination results would be positive. And these kinds of exams require a certain amount of intelligence to clear all the stages.
5. Verify the information of licensing board:
A person applying or appearing for a notary exam needs to collect all the details about his/her notary exam licensing authority.
If the notary licensing authority who is conducting such a notary exam is from another state, then that person needs to write that notary exam details to be submitted in the name of that state. Even while writing a notary exam a person will be responsible for the notary details of that particular state board of notary.
6. Apply to become a notary:
After clearing all the above-mentioned details, then the person who is applying for a state notary exam can proceed with further application. These notary applications commonly state with some questions relating to the personal information about the candidate and others would be their professional backgrounds such as their previous experience and other details about their previous employment.
7. Wait for the result:
After applying all the details in the notary application form, then a person needs to wait for his/her acceptance and rejection of their application.
The time would be crucial, but if a person is positive about his/her stand, then they will receive a positive result and if a person starts feeling negative about their application stand then the result would turn negative according to their expectation and prediction.
8. Take responsibility of notary seal carefully:
Once a person receives a positive result over his/her application then that person will have taken responsibility for his/her notary documents and notary seal with all the awareness and respect.
After issuing a license to a notary then that particular notary needs to understand all the required law statements and records of that particular state. A notary needs to take care of his/her notary documents and notary seal with a responsibility to keep them safe in a locker.
Even if a notary is responsible to leave his/her official place, then he/she should take their notary document and notary seal with them itself for safety purposes.
9. Publicly declare one’s notary license:
After receiving a license from the state board of notary, a person needs to declare his/her notary authority to the public so that they will be aware of a notary among them. By marketing one’s notary office, he/she start receiving a requirement for him/her.
This kind of act will create news among that state regarding a notary availability and this helps a person who has become a notary an opportunity to start his/her profession.
Application Requirements and Rules to become a Notary:
Certain fixed documents need to be submitted before applying to be notary of that particular state and they are as follows.
1. Application prescribed by a commonwealth:
A person applying to be notary needs to submit the application prescribed and furnished by the commonwealth. If the application submitted is not in the prescribed format, then the person applied for a notary application would be returned to them.
2. Act 119 of 2014 is not applicable:
A person applying for a notary will not apply according to the ACT of 119, 2014. As per the new rules of the state government the Act 119, 2014 is no more active since January 2014. If a person is applying the form considering previous rules then his/her application would be declared void.
3. Verification of good character certificate from the secretary of the commonwealth:
A person applying to become a notary needs to understand that his/her documents submitted should be verified under the secretary of the commonwealth. This is essential to follow while applying for a notary. A good character certificate to submit after verifying it from the secretary of the commonwealth.
4. No mistakes in the omission of facts in the application:
A person applying to be a notary needs to be clear with his/her facts and details. While entering or submitting his/her official documents and details a notary should take good care of his/her statements.
If there are any changes in the statement while commissioning the facts in the application then there is a possibility of rejection during the process of acceptance of such documents and certificates.
5. All the certificates of special training completion documents:
A person who has applied to become a notary needs to submit those documents as well where he/she took special training of the notary exam as prescribed by the state board of notary. This would give a special push to that particular application of a notary.
6. No criminal record or legal action against the candidate:
A person who applies for a notary needs to submit a certificate of security where he/she declare of not having any criminal record or legal action against his/her name. If there is any criminal record against the candidate name, then he/she won’t be eligible to apply for such an examination.
7. No prior notary public commission reclaimed by the commonwealth:
A person who has applied to become a notary should not have a prior notary public commission reclaimed or revoked by the commonwealth. If there any revoke from the prior notary public commission then the application of such candidate rejected.
Ground rules or eligibility stating who cannot become a notary:
There are certain rules and regulations to hold a public notary office and also some rules who cannot hold a notary office. And they are as follows.
1. A person holding a judicial office in the commonwealth:
A person holding a judicial office in the commonwealth cannot hold the notary public office even after receiving a license of being a notary. This creates a clear overrule of justice.
2. A member of the united states of America congress:
A person who is a member of the united states of America congress cannot hold an office of notary public because he/she is receiving a salary or fee from the commonwealth department of the state.
3. Any member of the general assembly of Pennsylvania:
A person being a member of the general assembly of Pennsylvania will not be eligible to hold the notary public office. Being a member of the general assembly of Pennsylvania, his/her duties are applicable only in Pennsylvania not in others of the commonwealth states.
Finally:
Therefore, if a person thinks of being a notary of the state, then he/she should think of all the above detailed statements and should be clear with all their documents and certificates.
If a person is clear with his/her eligibility and certificates of such special training, then he/she can become a notary. To apply for the position of a notary one can go through all the above mentioned steps and rules to follow to become a notary in the United States of America.
