What is a notary public?

A notary public is a county- or state-appointed official who has passed an examination that indicates that he/she is qualified to perform the following:

Administer oaths and affirmations and take depositions and affidavits

Certify power-of-attorney documents Issue protest bills for non-payment or non-acceptance of foreign and inland bills of exchange Issue acknowledgements in the cases of health care directives, powers of attorney, mortgages, deeds, grants, transfers, and other such instruments signed by any individual who can establish his/her identity.

 What are the qualifications to become a notary public?

The following are general requirements necessary to become a notary public and can vary from state to state:

A state resident

At least 18 years of age

English literate

Complete a course of study and pass a written examination

Introduction

The job of a mobile notary is extremely important, as we have many parties relying on us to successfully complete our tasks. The signing appointment occurs at the end of a long and labor-intensive process. Many professionals have performed services and have incurred expenses on the transaction, and the final step of the process is the procurement of the borrower's signature(s) on the requisite documents. This is the most crucial step in the process. Something as "minor" as a misplaced or omitted initial can delay the transaction for weeks. As you can see, the signature is the most important step of the process.

How Does a Notary Public Spend a Workday

A notary is someone who has been legally licensed and bonded in their state to be able to administer oaths and to verify affirmations. The seal that they carry, which is usually in stamp form, has the number of the notary public license and the date that the license expires. Even though this may sound like a boring job, the affirmations and the oaths include a wide range of various legal documents. The job of the notary public is extremely important and one that a person should take great pride in. The papers that the notary could come across in any given day could include an affidavit, a power of attorney, or release forms. 

Many of the various documents that come across the desk of a notary will require a professional person to witness the signing of the documents. This will ensure that there is not a case of forgery or misunderstanding of the documents. That professional person is the notary public. Many people involved in this field find that the interaction with people on a daily basis is nice and the wide range of paperwork that they come across is interesting.

Even though most people who work as a notary do not make a living solely off of this work, it is not impossible for someone to do so. It would be hard for someone to make his or her work as a notary public a full-time thing, but it is not impossible. The way someone can earn a good living off of the services that they can provide is to become a traveling notary. Notary fees are generally $1–$10 per signature. So if the fee is $10 per signature page and there are ten pages to be signed, there is $100 to be made for what could take about ten or fifteen minutes. If a notary is willing to travel, then they will be able to fetch the higher fees, such as $10 per signature page. There can also be the charge of reimbursement for traveling expenses such as mileage on the car or gasoline expenses.

Why would someone want a traveling notary public to come to him or her when going to an office would be so much cheaper? For people who are in hospitals, nursing homes, or who cannot leave their office or home during the normal business hours of a notary office, a traveling notary is required. Realtors who do not have someone on staff for the documents that need to be notarized will generally look for someone in their area that is a traveling notary public. This could bring a notary $25 dollars an hour, if not more, during the busy times of year.

Most of the time though, a notary will spend his or her workday in an office. Even though this is usually part-time work and one that does not bring in a lot of money, the notary public can still work outside of their office job, selling his or her services as a traveling notary outside of their standard working hours. So the job of the notary could be to work some days in an office and some days traveling around to places such as schools, hospitals, realtor offices, and retirement homes.

It is also important that the notary public spends a good bit of time during the days to make sure that all of their records are kept in order. A notary must be accountable for all of the papers and legal documents that passed through their notary seal. If the IRS audits someone in this field he or she must be able to show proof of any and all of the notarized papers that they have done. It is important for the financial security and the success of his or her notary business to make sure that proper records are kept at all times.

As you can easily see, the day in the life of someone in this field can be exciting, and it can also be financially rewarding if the business is run in the right manner.