How to Become a Notary Public in Connecticut

Section 3-94b of the Connecticut General Statutes sets the requirements. You must be 18 or older when you apply, and you must either live in Connecticut or have your principal place of business here at both application and appointment. You must pass a written exam approved or administered by the Secretary, complete an application without misstatement or omission, pay the $120 fee, and supply the recommendation of someone who has known you personally for at least a year and is not related to you.

The Secretary may deny an application for a felony conviction, a crime involving dishonesty or moral turpitude, a revoked, suspended or restricted notary appointment or professional license in any state, or past official misconduct.

The Secretary's first instruction is to review the Notary Public Manual, because the application contains an exam on its contents and every question must be answered correctly before a commission issues. Connecticut does not require a separate education course, and the manual is the only study document the office points to. Our Connecticut exam guide explains how the embedded test works.

Every new applicant, and anyone reinstating a lapsed commission, uploads a completed Jurat and Writing Sample form. The form asks you to write out, by hand, a complete acknowledgment form for an individual or a corporation, the certificate used for an affidavit, and the oath administered to a notary, and to describe the ceremony of giving an oath. You then swear to the document before someone authorized to administer oaths, usually another notary. The Secretary's office says an incorrect or incomplete jurat and writing sample is the most common reason applications stall, so check every blank and make sure the notarization is complete before scanning it.

Someone else fills out and signs this form. The page for applicants says the signer must be a public official or a reputable business or professional person who is not related to you and has personally known you for at least one year. Choose someone who can meet all three conditions without stretching, and give them time to complete the form carefully.

Register for an account on eLicense.ct.gov, then choose Online Services, Initial Application and Notary Public Certification, and follow the prompts. The application is completed partly online and partly in your own handwriting. The $120 fee is nonrefundable and can be paid by Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover, or from a checking account. Active state employees, including state police, who will notarize as part of their official duties can have the fee waived by attesting to their employment on the application, subject to audit.

You will receive an email acknowledging the filing and, once approved, another email with your certificate of appointment, typically within three to five business days. If staff find a deficiency, the application goes into pending status and you are told how to fix it. An application left pending for more than 90 days fails, and the fee is forfeited.

Before your first notarial act, you must take the oath of office set out in section 1-25, promising to support the U.S. and Connecticut constitutions and faithfully discharge the office. Any official authorized to administer oaths may give it, and the person who does so completes the jurat panel on your certificate of appointment.

Within 30 days of receiving the certificate, record it and the oath with the town clerk of the town where you live, or, for a nonresident, the town of your Connecticut principal place of business. Taking the oath from the town clerk during the same visit is often the simplest route. The recording fee is $20 under section 7-34a, and recording in additional towns is optional. Section 3-94c says a missed recording does not void your acts, but it remains a legal requirement.

A Connecticut appointment lasts five years, ending on the last day of the month of appointment. The state requires no bond; the manual notes that notaries may buy a bond or errors and omissions insurance for their own protection.

About 90 days before expiration the Secretary emails a renewal notice with a PIN for fast-track renewal. Renewal costs $60 and requires you to swear you have not been convicted of a crime since your last appointment. You may renew in the 90 days before expiration or the 90 days after, but during that grace period the commission is lapsed and you cannot notarize. Once more than 90 days have passed, the commission is inactive and reinstatement costs $120 and follows the new-application steps. Each new term needs a new oath and a new recording, and name or address changes must be reported within 30 days.