Arizona Notary Rules and Responsibilities

A notarial officer may rely on personal knowledge, meaning dealings with the person sufficient for reasonable certainty (41-255(A)), or on satisfactory evidence. Satisfactory evidence under 41-255(B) includes an unexpired U.S. passport, state driver license or nonoperating ID license, an unexpired U.S. armed forces ID card, other unexpired government ID from the United States, a state or a tribe that bears a signature or a photo and description, and certain inmate cards for people in custody. A credible witness who appears in person and is known to you, or whom you identify by ID, may also vouch under oath.

For real estate conveyances and financing, 41-255(C) adds an unexpired foreign passport accompanied by the U.S. visa or other federal documents showing legal presence, and certain Department of Homeland Security cards with their supporting documents. You may always ask for more identification if you are not satisfied.

Under 41-319 you keep a paper journal for acts on tangible records, one at a time, entries in chronological order. Each entry lists the date, a description of the document and type of act, each person's printed full name and address, their signature, the type of identity evidence or a note that you relied on personal knowledge, a description of any ID with its issue or expiration date, and the fee. If you notarize for the same person more than once within six months, you verify identity the first time and need not require ID or a journal signature for later acts in that period (remote acts excluded).

Senate Bill 1479, effective September 12, 2026, amended 41-254 to require the signer's right thumbprint in your journal for a deed, quitclaim deed, deed of trust, other document affecting real property, or power of attorney. Use another finger if needed and note it, or explain in the journal why no print was possible. Trustee's deeds from foreclosure and deeds of release and reconveyance are exempt, as are remote acts that meet 41-263 when the journal records the ID credential number and the recording is kept at least seven years.

Journal entries that are public records may be viewed or copied by anyone who makes a written request giving the month and year, the signer's name and the type of record. If you do notarizations that are not public records, you keep a separate journal for them, which belongs to your employer. Keep records at least five years (41-317(C)).

Under 41-264 a certificate must be completed at the time of the act, signed as your signature is on file with the Secretary of State, dated, and must state where the act occurred, your title and your commission expiration date, in a language you can read and understand. On paper documents you must affix your official stamp. Never sign a certificate before the act is performed. A loose certificate on a separate sheet must describe the record by title or type, date, number of pages and any other signers.

The short forms in 41-265 read, for example, that the record was acknowledged before me on a date by a named person, or signed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me for a verification on oath. Your stamp may be any shape but a physical impression is limited to 1.5 by 2.5 inches and must include the great seal of Arizona (41-266). Do not place it over any signature. You may own one physical stamping device, and an embosser may be used only together with it (41-267); keeping more than one stamp is a class 3 misdemeanor.

A.R.S. 41-316 lets the Secretary of State set fees by rule, and rule R2-12-1102 caps them at $10: up to $10 per signature for an acknowledgment or jurat, up to $10 per page for a copy certification, and up to $10 per oath or affirmation. You pick a standard fee from no charge to the maximum, charge it consistently, and post the schedule in a conspicuous place (A.R.S. 38-412). The Secretary of State applies the same $10 ceiling to electronic and remote acts. You may add a mileage fee at the state employee rate when you travel (41-316(B)), but no service or transaction fees.

The manual warns that an officer who demands more than the lawful fee is liable to the person charged for four times the amount under A.R.S. 38-413 and commits a class 5 felony.

Under 41-252(B) you may not notarize a record to which you or your spouse is a party or in which either of you has a direct beneficial interest, and an act done in violation is voidable. The manual also discourages notarizing for any family member because it can call your impartiality into question.

A commission does not let you draft legal records, give legal advice, act as an immigration consultant or represent anyone in immigration proceedings (41-273(A)). A non-attorney notary may not use the terms notario or notario publico and, in any advertisement for notary services, must include the required statement that you are not an attorney licensed in Arizona, in every language the ad uses. You also may not withhold a customer's original record. Practicing law or immigration consulting brings a civil penalty of up to $1,000 and permanent revocation, and advertising that you can give legal help is a class 6 felony.

Arizona permits remote online notarization for notaries who have notified the Secretary of State and received authorization for their chosen technology (41-263(F)). The certificate must state that the act involved communication technology, and the audiovisual recording is kept at least five years, or seven where the thumbprint exception is used.

Report an address change within 30 days, or face a $25 civil penalty, and report a lost, stolen or compromised journal or stamp within 10 days, or face a $1,000 penalty (41-323). When you resign or let the commission expire without renewing, deliver your journal, records and physical stamp to the Secretary of State; neglecting it for three months means forfeiting $50 to $500 (41-317(B)). The Secretary of State may deny, suspend, revoke or condition a commission for the grounds in 41-271.