If you are currently an Oregon Notary Public, then NO, you do not have to take the notary training.
If you DO NOT hold a notary commission at the time of application, you must take an approved notary education course.
The training course/webinar provided by the Secretary of State is free or you can choose another notary public education provider.
Under the old notary system, the biggest reason for rejection was failure to pass the test. This led to increased expense and delays for the applicant, as well as confusion and a pressure to pass the test. Under the new system, an applicant can take the test as many times as they want and take as much time as they need. The new system decreases rejections, saving applicants time and money.
If you are currently an Oregon Notary Public, then NO. Only the test is mandatory. Those who don't have a current commission at the time of application are required to take a notary course and test.
Once you complete the notary public education webinar, you will receive a certificate via email.
Go to the Commission Application/Reapplication page and select Take the Exam and Apply.
No. The only address available online is the public records address you identified, which the public can access to contact you if they have a question about a notarization you have performed.
The email address you usually use will probably work if you have the test number too. If not, call the Secretary of State office at 503-986-2090 and they will help you find it.
Go to our Web page and take the test. Once you have the test number, you can click on the link where you took your test, or go back to the notary education Web page and click on the application link. You'll need your login email from the test program and the test number you received when you passed.
The law says your commission name is your full legal name, as verified by a notary public. If your old commission name doesn't match your current legal name, then you must use a different one that does match your identification. Keep in mind that the signature need not completely mirror your name. It simply needs to be the signature you used on your ID, as your legal signature.
There's no need for a signature to precisely mirror the legal name of an individual. According to the law, a signature means "a tangible symbol ... that evidences the signing of a record.” So, a signature may be a mark, printed name, part of a name or anything that shows a “present intent to authenticate or adopt a record.”
This is the only address that the Secretary of State will associate with your name to the public upon request. It may be your street address, a mailing address, your employer's address, whatever address can be associated with you where you can reliably be contacted for legal purposes.
If you have a nondisclosure agreement with the Secretary of State from a commission that existed before Sept. 1, 1913, that address is still exempt from disclosure. It won't be published online. However, you still need to provide an address we can use to contact you that will be available to the public. There is no such thing as a “secret” notary public. Many people who must be a notary as part of their job use their employer's address as their public record address.
Unlike the previous system, we don't ask for payment at the time of application. Instead, we wait for your notarized oath of office. Only after we have verification of your identity and your sworn statement we can commission you. Because you have to mail or bring in the oath, you'll need to provide payment by check or credit card number and expiration date.
As soon as you have a notary stamp and journal.
It means a question has come up about information that you provided on your application. Our office will contact you soon to try and clear up any issues.
Attached to the email should be a PDF document that has an oath of office for you to fill out and take before a notary. Print that out, have a notary administer the oath of office, and send the notarized oath to us with payment of the $40 nonrefundable processing fee.
It's against the law to notarize your own signature or any document you are party to. That also means it's illegal to notarize your own oath. Independent verification of your name, signature and adherence to the oath is essential to prevent the theft of your notarial identity and to ensure your agreement to the terms of your commission.
After you've sent in the oath, you will receive a confirmation email from the Secretary of State with a 'Certificate of Authorization' attached. Save this attachement to use when ordering your stamp. After selecting the kind of stamp you want, fill out your details, upload the 'Certificate of Authorization' and checkout.
The fee would be $20. The fee is per signature/person. Even if the notary public is using one notarial certificate, the notary public in this case is identifying and witnessing two separate executions on the document - OAR 150-100-0400
When notarizing multiple documents for the same individual (whether duplicate or different documents), a single journal entry may be recorded. This entry should include all the information required by law and list the total number of duplicates. - ORS 184.300(4)
Most notaries public are exempt from disclosing the notary journal contents unless requested by the Secretary of State Corporation Division, or when required by subpoena - ORS 184.300(9)
If the notary journal is in the possession of the Secretary of State's office, or if the notary public is a public official or public employee, then the notarial journal falls under the public record disclosure laws. Should the Corporation Division deem that it is in the public interest not to disclose such information, the notary journal would not be made public.
It is reasonable for a customer to see his or her own entry recorded in the notary journal, but the entries above and below should be covered to protect the privacy of those individuals.
Oregon does not require its notaries public to be bonded or to have liability insurance. This is left to the discretion of the notary public. Liability insurance protects the notary public. Bonding protects the customer from the notary public.
A notary public cannot notarize his or her own signature or the signature of their spouse. A notary public must be an impartial witness. The law doesn't forbid notaries from notarizing the signatures of relatives, yet doing so isn't a good practice. If the document were ever taken to court, a judge might determine that the notary public was not impartial or had influenced a relative in the signing of the document - ORS 184.215.
Acceptable forms of identification are any of the following that are current or no more than 3 years expired:
Although a photograph itself may not be notarized, the notary public may notarize a statement about the photograph. If the customer has a statement on the back of the photograph, such as "I certify that this is an actual photograph of me," and asks the notary public to witness his or her signature on that statement, the notary public may notarize the photograph. For this to work, there must be room on the photo for the notarial certificate, notary public signature and official notary seal.
For smaller photographs, the customer can make a statement about the photograph on a piece of paper referring to "the attached photo." As long as the notary public is just witnessing the customer's signature per the customer's instruction, the notary public may notarize.
After the notarial certificate is completed with venue, statement, official notary seal and signature, use the official notary seal a second time such that it overlaps the photograph and the paper it is attached to. Be careful not to cover the face on the photo. This action makes it clear to the receiving agency that the photograph is the one attached to the document when it was notarized.
Yes, corrections can be made. Only the notary public may make corrections, and they must be made on the original document, i.e. the notary public cannot send a new attachment certificate. The original must be corrected. - ORS 184.280.
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