Notary Public Underwriters Blog

What Questions Should a Notary Refuse to Answer?

Details: Published: September 8, 2025

You’re a notary public… that usually means you are hard-wired to be helpful to your customers. That’s a great personal attribute, but experienced notaries know their helpfulness must be balanced with a healthy knowledge of functioning within the legal scope of their powers.

Every notary in America operates under the notary law and rules of the state in which they are commissioned or appointed. There are many similarities in notary laws from state-to-state. There are, however, many differences in state notary laws as well. Neither the notary public nor the customer should ever assume that a notarial act being requested is one that is authorized in the notary’s commissioning or appointing state. It is up to the notary to know or verify that the requested notarial act is one they are authorized to perform.

Another challenging issue occurs when a person requesting a notarial act assumes that notaries are experts in document transactions, and therefore should be able to answer questions about document transactions in general.

The problem here is that many notaries’ expertise applies solely to the requirements of performing a notarial act. Unless the notary has additional expertise and the appropriate credentials—for example, the notary also happens to be an attorney or, has obtained applicable training and credentials such as “certified notary signing agent”—the notary should address only the customer’s questions about the notarial act indicated in the document’s notarial certificate.

Here are a few sample questions that a notary who lacks the necessary, additional training and credentials should decline to answer. These questions would also be dangerous for a notary lacking knowledge of the individual’s case or situation to attempt answering. Notice what all these questions have in common: they concern “next steps,” or the effects of the document, post-notarization:

Now that my signature is notarized, will I legally be able to wrap up this situation?

What should I do now with the document, and who should receive copies?

Is it okay to mail this document now, or should I hand-deliver it?

Is this document now fully, legally effective?

Finally, be brief and clear when explaining why you cannot perform certain functions. For example (and if applicable):

I’m sorry, but I may only perform the steps needed to notarize your signature. I am not trained or authorized to perform any other steps or to answer questions on any matters other than notarizing your signature.

Protect yourself—and protect the interests and needs of your customers—by remembering which notarial acts you are authorized to perform; recognizing questions you aren’t trained or authorized to answer; and knowing when you should decline to perform additional requested steps.

Notary Public Underwriters Blog

What Questions Should a Notary Refuse to Answer?

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