Nevada Notary Rules and Duties

Under NRS 240.1655 you need personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence that the signer is who they claim to be. Satisfactory evidence includes any of the following: the person is personally known to you; a credible witness who personally appears and is known to both you and the signer vouches under oath; an identifying document containing both a signature and a photograph; a consular identification card issued by a consulate located in Nevada; or the oath of a subscribing witness you know personally.

Two further options apply only when none of those work: a person 65 or older may be identified by an ID card issued by a governmental agency or a senior citizen center, and a state prison inmate may be identified by a Department of Corrections ID card or a sworn declaration under NRS 208.165. NRS 240.155 makes it a gross misdemeanor to willfully notarize the signature of someone who is not in your presence.

NRS 240.120 requires a journal kept in your office, filled in at the time of each act, and bound with preprinted page numbers. Each entry records the fee charged, the document title, the date, the signer's name and signature, a description of the evidence of identity, whether you gave an oath, and the type of certificate used. One entry may cover several acts done for the same person at the same time on the same or similar documents.

A signer need not sign the journal only when three conditions all apply: you notarized for them within the past six months, you know them personally, and they are your employer or coworker in an ordinary-course business matter. In that case you write known personally as the identity evidence. A credible witness must sign the journal and be noted as a credible witness.

The journal is open to public inspection, and you must provide a certified copy of an entry on request for the statutory fee. Keep it in a secure location, which NAC 240.300 reads as your sole possession or a locked place only you control. Keep every journal for seven years after you stop being a notary, and report a lost or stolen journal to the Secretary of State and to law enforcement.

Every notarial act needs a certificate that names the Nevada county where the act took place, the signer's name, your signature and date in ink matching the signature on file with the Secretary of State, and your stamp (NRS 240.1655). NRS 240.166 and 240.167 give short forms: an acknowledgment reads that the instrument was acknowledged before you on a date by a named person, and a jurat reads signed and sworn to (or affirmed) before you. For a jurat you must administer an oath, and the signer signs in your presence.

The stamp under NRS 240.040 is a rectangle no larger than 1 by 2.5 inches in indelible, photographically reproducible ink. Never place the stamp or your signature over printed material, never stamp a document that has no notarial certificate, and never let anyone else use your stamp. If a signer is physically unable to sign, they may direct someone other than you to sign, and you add the signature affixed by wording required by the statute.

NRS 240.100 sets the only fees allowed, and NRS 240.130 forbids charging for any service not listed. Under NRS 240.110 you may charge nothing at all unless a fee table in type at least half an inch tall is posted in a conspicuous place in your office.

NRS 240.065 bars you from notarizing when you signed or are named in the document, when you will receive from the transaction anything beyond the notarial fee, when the signer is your domestic partner, or when the signer is related to you or your domestic partner by blood or marriage. The statute's list of relatives is broad, reaching grandparents, grandchildren, step-relatives, in-laws, nieces and nephews. Licensed Nevada attorneys and registered document preparation services have limited exceptions for their professional fees.

NRS 240.075 lists acts a notary may never perform. You may not steer anyone into or out of a transaction, certify a statement you know is false, alter your journal, or use your appointment to endorse a product. You also may not certify photocopies of birth, death or marriage certificates or divorce decrees, notarize a document containing only a signature, or notarize any document that has not been completely filled out and signed. NAC 240.310 treats a blank as filled if it is completed, marked not applicable or lined through. You may refuse to notarize if you doubt the signer's competence or that the signature is voluntary.

A non-attorney who advertises notary services in another language must include the notice in NRS 240.085 stating that the notary is not an attorney and cannot give legal advice, and may never use notario, notario publico or licenciado. A violation brings suspension of at least one year and a civil penalty of up to $2,000.

Nevada allows remote notarization by audio-video communication, but only for notaries registered as electronic notaries under NRS 240.192, and the notary must be physically in Nevada during the act (NRS 240.1993, as amended in 2025). The signer may be elsewhere in the United States, or abroad if the conditions in that section are met.

Under NRS 240.150 the Secretary of State may suspend an appointment, revoke it after a hearing, or impose a civil penalty of up to $2,000 per violation, and an employer who consented to the misconduct can also be penalized. Willful violations that cause irreparable harm are a category D felony (NRS 240.175).