Notary Public Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Notary Public?
A Notary Public is a public servant who’s primary role is to identify signers, administer oaths, and certify copies of documents. Notaries verify that a signer has satisfactory ID that services as evidence of their identity as the party in the document. A Notary Public can also administer oaths and affirmations for affidavits, depositions, and court proceedings. Notaries Public are not lawyers, although lawyers can be a Notary. They do not prepare documents or give legal advice. Notaries only concern is verifying the identity of signers and administering oaths and affirmations.
What is a Mobile Notary Public? How does that work?
A mobile Notary Public is the same as a regular notary, except they travel to customers instead of being in an office. They have the flexibility to provide notarization services at businesses, offices, hospitals, restaurants, anywhere you can imagine. Other Notaries require the client to go to their office during normal business hours to have notarization completed. Mobile service provides convenient, privacy, flexibility, and professional service that many of our clients require.
How much can a Notary Public charge?
The state of Oregon sets the fee that a Notary Public may charge per Notary Act. This can be found here Fee Schedule. Any fees charged for additional services such as travel, are at the discretion of the Notary Public and must be disclosed to the customer prior to the appointment. These fees will vary between different service companies. If a Notary is stationary, and does not travel or print, fax, scan, courier, etc for you, then they are prohibited from charging more than $10 per notary act. These notaries would be like notaries in a private office, bank, UPS store, etc.
How late are you open? Are you available for appointments 24/7?
We provide around the clock service, by appointment. If you are in need of services at an unusual hour you need to make an appointment in advance. We do sleep, so we cannot guarantee we will be up and available for last minute calls in the middle of the night. During the day, we accommodate all appointments as our schedule allows, i.e. no other clients booked conflicting, but appointments at least a day in advance are advised.
Why get something notarized?
Some documents are legally required to be notarized, and some documents clients desire to have notarized. Documents such as real estate documents, or other legal documents often need to be notarized. Sometimes businesses require notarization for remote transactions to verify that the individual actually is who signed the document. Notarization is often used to deter or prevent document fraud as well.
I am not an attorney licensed to practice law. I am not allowed to draft legal records, give advice on legal matters, including immigration, or charge a fee for those activities. ORS 194.350(4)(A).
