Arkansas Notary Rules for New Notaries

According to the handbook, an Arkansas notary may swear witnesses, take affidavits, administer oaths, take depositions under Rule 28 of the Arkansas and federal civil procedure rules, and take acknowledgments of deeds and other instruments. Your authority covers the whole state for your ten-year term, not just your county of commission, but you may not use your Arkansas seal to notarize in another state.

Despite the listed power, the handbook cautions that Arkansas courts accept depositions only when attested by a certified court reporter, so notaries who are not court reporters should not take them.

The handbook calls identity the notary's greatest responsibility and requires personal appearance. Arkansas law does not list acceptable identification documents, so the choice is yours and so is the responsibility. The handbook recommends government-issued photo identification bearing the signer's picture and signature unless you personally know the signer.

Before notarizing, also confirm that the signer understands the document, appears to act freely, and can communicate with you directly in a shared language.

A complete certificate has four elements: your official signature as filed with the Secretary, your seal, the venue where you and the signer actually are, and the date. The venue county may differ from your county of commission. Fill in every blank before you sign and seal, so nothing can be added later. The handbook treats a certificate as incomplete if you sign or seal it while blanks remain, if you sign before the client signs, or if you sign at any time other than when the client signs in your presence.

Sign in blue or black ink and place the seal under or near the signature. Facsimile signatures and seals are allowed only on commercial documents, never on deeds or real estate conveyances, and only after filing a registration with the Secretary.

Several fact patterns get their own rules in the handbook, and each is fair game on the exam.

You may not notarize your own signature, a document to which you are a party, or one from which you would gain a direct or indirect financial benefit. Fees are optional in Arkansas; if you charge, the amount must be reasonable and disclosed to and agreed to by the signer before the act, under A.C.A. 21-6-309.

Notaries who advertise as notario or notario publico must include, in English and Spanish, the statutory notice that they are not attorneys and cannot give legal or immigration advice (A.C.A. 4-109-101 and following). The Secretary publishes the notice as a separate form.

Arkansas does not require a journal for traditional notarizations. The handbook strongly recommends one anyway, pointing out that a notary's records are admissible in Arkansas courts, and suggests logging the date, type of act, type of document, each signer's name, address and signature, notes, and fees. For remote online notarizations, the eNotary page says the solution provider must keep the recording for five years.

File an amendment within 30 days of any change to your name or address on file with the Secretary. A name change must be filed by mail with a certified copy of the marriage license, divorce decree, or court order, bearing the county's official seal; a plain photocopy is not accepted. A move to another Arkansas county requires transferring the commission through the circuit clerk.

Both changes also require a new seal, and the handbook tells you to destroy the old seal right away. The commission, bond and seal belong to you even if your employer paid for them, and an employer cannot revoke them when you leave. Notaries who live in a neighboring state keep their Arkansas commission only while they remain employed in, or operate a business in, Arkansas.

A traditional Arkansas notary cannot notarize by video. Remote work requires an electronic commission and an approved remote online notarization provider under Act 1047 of 2021. The eNotary must be physically in Arkansas, although the signer may be elsewhere, and eNotaries using in-person electronic tools must still be in the same room as the signer. The electronic commission expires with the traditional one and requires refresher training every two years.

The handbook states that a notary who violates Arkansas law on witnessing signatures commits a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail, and loses the commission with no recommissioning for ten years. Anyone can file a signed complaint with the Secretary under A.C.A. 21-14-112. The Secretary does not investigate crimes such as forgery or fraud; those go to law enforcement or a prosecutor.