Maryland Notary Rules: A Practical Summary

Maryland recognizes six notarial acts: taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification on oath or affirmation, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy, and noting a protest of a negotiable instrument (Section 18-201). You may act in any county, not only the one where you were commissioned (Section 18-105), but you must be physically inside Maryland when you notarize, wherever the document will be used.

The person making a statement or signing must appear personally before you, and a remotely located individual may appear through communication technology only under the remote rules below (Section 18-205). Before signing a certificate you must actually complete the act; Section 18-215(e) forbids signing ahead of time.

Section 18-206 accepts personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence. Satisfactory evidence means a passport, driver's license, consular ID or government nondriver ID, or another government-issued ID that bears both the person's signature and photograph and satisfies you. A credible witness may instead vouch under oath if the witness appears before you and is known to you or identified with one of those documents. You can require more information whenever you have doubts.

Under Section 18-207 you may refuse when you are not satisfied that the signer is competent or is signing knowingly and voluntarily. If a person is physically unable to sign, Section 18-208 lets them direct someone else, not you, to sign their name in your presence, and you add a notation that the signature was affixed at their direction.

Every Maryland notary must keep a journal of all notarial acts (Section 18-219). You may keep only one paper journal at a time, and it must be a permanent, bound register with numbered pages; electronic journals must be tamper-evident. Retain it for 10 years after the last act it records. Report a lost or stolen journal to the Secretary of State promptly. If you resign or your commission is revoked or suspended, keep the journal and tell the Secretary of State where it is, or send it to an approved repository.

Each entry is made at the time of the act. Unlike some states that restrict ID numbers, Maryland's COMAR 01.02.08.08C directs you to record the identification number of any ID credential you rely on.

Every act needs a certificate completed at the time of the act (Section 18-215). It must be signed and dated, signed the same way as your signature on file with the circuit court clerk, identify where the act took place, show your title, and state your commission expiration date. On paper records you must stamp or emboss your official stamp on the certificate. A certificate must be part of or securely attached to a paper record. Section 18-216 supplies short forms, such as the acknowledgment wording that the record was acknowledged before me on a stated date.

Under Section 18-217 the stamp shows your name, the words Notary Public, and your county (your county of residence, or the county where you qualified if you live out of state), and must reproduce clearly on a copy. The expiration date goes on the stamp or in the certificate. The stamp is a public seal, you alone are responsible for it even if an employer paid for it, and it must be destroyed or defaced when your commission ends (Section 18-218). Report a lost or stolen stamp promptly.

Section 18-107 caps what regulations may allow at $25 for an original act and $50 for a remote act, but COMAR 01.02.08.02 sets the actual limits much lower. Judges and court magistrates acting as notarial officers may not charge at all (Section 18-209(d)).

Section 18-203(b) bars you from notarizing 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 Secretary of State goes further in its guidance and recommends not notarizing for immediate family at all, or for any matter you are personally involved in. Being an employee of a company that is a party does not by itself disqualify you, as long as you are not a party.

Remote notarization has been legal since October 1, 2020. Before your first remote act, file the Secretary of State's remote notary notification form, choosing either an authorized remote online notary vendor or, for identification by personal knowledge or credible witness only, the non-vendor route (COMAR 01.02.08.07). You must be located in Maryland, record the whole session on audio and video, and keep that recording for at least 10 years (Section 18-214). The certificate must state that the act involved a remotely located individual and communication technology.

Knowledge-based identity proofing under Section 18-223 requires at least five questions with five choices each, 80 percent correct within two minutes, and one retake within 24 hours. Remote authority ends when your commission does, and you file a new notification after renewal.

The Secretary of State, acting under authority delegated by the Governor, may deny, refuse to renew, revoke, suspend or condition a commission for conduct showing a lack of honesty, integrity, competence or reliability (Section 18-104). COMAR 01.02.08.11 names examples: failing to identify a signer properly, botching a certificate, overcharging, keeping an inaccurate journal, and performing remote acts before notifying the office. A notary convicted of a felony or a crime of fraud, dishonesty or deceit must report it within 10 days. Changes to your name, addresses, phone numbers, email or county of residence must be reported within 30 days (COMAR 01.02.08.09).