New Jersey Notary Public Rules and Duties

For an acknowledgment, a verification, or witnessing a signature, the notary must determine from personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence that the person appearing is who they claim to be and that the signature is theirs. Personal knowledge means dealings with the person sufficient to give reasonable certainty of identity. Satisfactory evidence can be any of the following:

Every notarial act must be evidenced by a certificate and stamped. The certificate must be completed at the time of the act, signed and dated by the notary, identify the jurisdiction, give the notary's title and, for a notary public, show the commission expiration date. A notary may not sign the certificate before the act has actually been performed. The manual supplies short forms for individual and representative acknowledgments, verifications, signature witnessing and copy certification.

The stamp must show the notary's name, the words 'Notary Public, State of New Jersey' and the expiration date, and it must reproduce legibly when the record is copied. Place it near the signature. The notary is responsible for keeping the stamping device secure and must report a lost or stolen device to the Treasurer within ten calendar days.

If a signer physically cannot sign, they may direct someone other than the notary to sign their name, and the notary notes on the record that the signature was affixed by that person at the signer's direction.

Every New Jersey notary must keep one journal at a time covering all notarial acts, paper or electronic. A paper journal must be a permanent bound book with numbered lines and pages; an electronic journal must be permanent and tamper-evident. For each act, the entry records:

Keep the journal ten years after the last act recorded in it, or ask the Treasurer how to transmit it securely. The same choice applies on resignation, suspension or revocation. A lost or stolen journal must be reported within ten days, and after a notary's death or incompetency the personal representative or guardian must contact the Treasurer within 45 days. Attorneys, their employees, and agents or employees of licensed title insurers may use their regular client or business files instead of a separate journal.

A notary may not notarize a record to which the notary or the notary's spouse or civil union partner is a party, or in which either has a direct beneficial interest; an act that breaks this rule is voidable. A non-attorney may not use or advertise the title lawyer or attorney-at-law in any language, and any advertisement must carry the prescribed statement that the notary is not a licensed attorney.

The Treasurer may deny, refuse to renew, suspend, revoke or limit a commission for conduct showing a lack of honesty, integrity, competence or reliability. The manual's list includes misstatements on the application, fraud findings, conviction of a crime of the second degree or above, giving legal advice or acting as an immigration consultant, misleading advertising, failing to take the oath within three months, and withholding a person's original record. The notary receives written notice and has 20 calendar days to request a hearing, which may be sent to the Office of Administrative Law.

A notary located in New Jersey may notarize for a remotely located individual over communication technology, wherever that person is, after notifying the Treasurer and identifying the technology to be used. The notary must visually check an acceptable ID and confirm identity through dynamic knowledge-based authentication, biometric verification or a digital public key certificate, reasonably confirm the record is the one signed, and make an audio-visual recording kept for ten years. Signers outside the United States are limited to records with a stated U.S. connection whose signing is not prohibited where they are. The certificate must say the act used communication technology.

When a tangible record is not in front of the notary, the signer signs it on camera with a declaration and sends it within three days. Electronic notarization requires a separate notice and tamper-evident technology the notary chooses; no one can force a notary to use a technology they have not selected.

A notary may refuse when not satisfied that the signer is competent, that the signature is knowing and voluntary, that the signature matches the ID, or that the signer resembles the ID photo. The fees a notarial officer may collect are: