In the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, a notary public

Notary public

A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...

is a public officer appointed by the governor of the state to take acknowledgments, administer oaths, attest to photocopies of certain documents, solemnize marriage

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

, protest the non-acceptance or non-payment of negotiable instruments http://leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?mode=View%20Statutes&SubMenu=1&App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=certificate+of+dishonor&URL=CH0673/Sec5051.HTM, and perform other duties specified by law.

A notary may only perform a notarial act upon receipt of satisfactory proof of identity (i.e. a driver's license

Driver's license

A driver's license/licence , or driving licence is an official document which states that a person may operate a motorized vehicle, such as a motorcycle, car, truck or a bus, on a public roadway. Most U.S...

 or other form of identification card), or by the notary's own personal knowledge of the person appearing before them, or upon the sworn statement of two witnesses who personally know the person whose signature is to be authenticated. A notary may not notarize their own signature, or the signature of their spouse, parent, or child.

Authority of a Florida notary public

Notaries Public in Florida have the authority to take acknowledgments, administer oaths, solemnize marriage, certify the contents of a safe-deposit box, certify the Vehicle Identification Number

Vehicle identification number

A Vehicle Identification Number, commonly abbreviated to VIN, is a unique serial number used by the automotive industry to identify individual motor vehicles. VINs were first used in 1954...

 of a motor vehicle, and certify copies of non-recordable documents. http://www.flgov.com/pdfs/ref_manual11-22.pdf

• Acknowledgments are usually taken in correlation with a real estate transaction, but are often used in cases where a mere "identity verification" is needed to ensure that the document is being executed by an authorized party.
• Oaths are administered orally in depositions and court hearings in which a party is being sworn in over the telephone instead of being personally present before a judge. In this respect, notaries administer oaths in the same way as a judge. Many court reporters are also notaries, as this allows one person to both swear the party in for a deposition and to transcribe the deposition. Oaths are also administered in the form of affidavits and other sworn statements on paper.
• Marriages may be legally solemnized by a notary public between parties who present the notary with a valid marriage license
  Marriage license
  A marriage license is a document issued, either by a church or state authority, authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a license varies between countries and has changed over time...
  
  . The law has no requirements for the form of a marriage ceremony, therefore many notaries perform both civil and religious marriage ceremonies.
• The contents of a safe-deposit box are certified by a notary public in cases where the owner has died or otherwise abandoned the safe-deposit box. In this case, the notary must be present while a bank official and other witness open the box. The notary then certifies the contents of the box and makes a certificate thereof for presentation to the court or to the personal representative of the Decedent's estate.
• Notaries are authorized by Florida law to verify the Vehicle Identification Number
  Vehicle identification number
  A Vehicle Identification Number, commonly abbreviated to VIN, is a unique serial number used by the automotive industry to identify individual motor vehicles. VINs were first used in 1954...
  
   of a motor vehicle and certify this fact to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles when that vehicle has not previously been registered with the state.
• Notaries have the authority to make certified photocopies in cases where certified copies of a document can not be obtained from another public official. Therefore, notaries can not certify birth certificates, copies of court judgments, or public records maintained in government offices. They can, however, certify copies of passports, driver licenses, and any other document which is not eligible for public recordation.
• The most rare of notarial duties in Florida is the drafting of protests, i.e. certificates of dishonor, which certify that payment on a negotiable instrument has been refused. This is an antiquated act that appears only one place in the Florida Statutes. http://leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?mode=View%20Statutes&SubMenu=1&App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=certificate+of+dishonor&URL=CH0673/Sec5051.HTM

Commission requirements

Any individual at least 18 years of age who is a resident of Florida may apply for and obtain commission as a notary public, provided that they have obtained a $7,500.00 public bond from an insurance company, and taken a notary education course administered by an authorized course provider. Such commission is usually obtained by legal secretaries

Legal secretary

A legal secretary is a particular category of worker within the legal profession.In the practice of law in the United States, a legal secretary is person who works in the legal profession, typically assisting lawyers. Legal secretaries help by preparing and filing legal documents, such as appeals...

, paralegal

Paralegal

Paralegal is used in most jurisdictions to describe a paraprofessional who assists qualified lawyers in their legal work. This is true in the United States and many other countries. However, in Ontario, Canada, paralegals are licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada, giving paralegals an...

s, and attorneys for use in their place of work, where the notarization of client signatures is a requirement on many court pleading

Pleading

In law as practiced in countries that follow the English models, a pleading is a formal written statement filed with a court by parties in a civil action, other than a motion...

s and other documents. However, occupation in the legal profession is not a prerequisite to becoming a notary, and a person of any profession may apply for and obtain a commission. Many banks also have notaries on staff to notarize the signatures of their customers.

Seal requirements

A notary seal of the rubber stamp type is required to be affixed to all notarized paper documents. The rubber stamp must include the commissioned name of the notary public, the words "Notary Public-State of Florida", the notary's commission number, and the date on which the notary's commission expires. Prior to the mid 1970s, the only statutory requirement regarding notarial seals was that one be used and that it include the words "Notary Public" and "State of Florida at Large"; the name of the notary was optional, and the law did not specify what types of seals were permissible. This law was later amended to state that the seal must be round in design and of either the rubber stamp or impression type. In the early 1990s, the statute was again changed to require a rubber stamp seal, with an impression type seal being optional and not acceptable unless used in conjunction with a rubber stamp. However, many notaries continue to use the impression seal with their rubber stamp to allow for easy detection when trying to determine which document is an original. This process is made more difficult for notaries who only use a rubber stamp seal, as the Florida statutes require that the seal be affixed in only photographically-reproducible black ink.