Notary Tools
Do The Tools Help Make the Notary? (Yes!)Published October 29, 2025
Consider this: every document containing a notarial certificate that a notary fills in, signs and seals is potentially a “forever” document.
That’s because any document containing your notarial certificate might be kept and/or relied upon for years or even decades. Real property-related documents are a good example. They often become “permanent” public records because the documented legal ownership of land is relevant to relying parties, and their generations that follow. (For additional, interesting information on “permanent” public records, ask AI the question, “Are some public records permanent?”)
Many, many documents that become “permanent” public records require notarization of one or more signatures. This means that the evidence of a notarization that you performed—your signed and sealed notarial certificate—will often be available as part of a public record for as long as that record is maintained. In fact, some parties inspecting a public record are specifically evaluating the notarial certificate for apparent compliance (or non-compliance) with laws and rules in effect at the time of notarization.
If your past notarial certificates were ever examined in this way, will the tools you used to complete them pass muster? Ask yourself:
✓ Will the notary stamp or embossment I made on the certificate fully comply with the notary stamp and embosser format requirements in effect at that time?
✓ Will the stamp and/or embosser impression still look crisp, clean and completely readable?
✓ Did my stamp and/or embosser impression overlap any text or signatures, or did I avoid that by attaching a separate notarial certificate form , for the desired notarial act, with sufficient room to affix my stamp or embosser image?
There’s another, extremely important piece of “forever” evidence that reveals the diligence of your notary work: the record of every notarization you performed, entered in your notary recordbook (journal).
The best notary recordbooks provide:
(a) ample space for each piece of required information to be entered neatly and legibly;
(b) individual, numbered entries so that each is self-contained, with its own unique identifying number;
(c) high-quality paper that prevents ink from bleeding through the pages; and
(d) a lightweight but durable, water-resistant cover that protects the precious records you’ve created inside.
The All-States Recordbook of Notarial Acts, created by the American Society of Notaries, offers all those desirable features. Our 76-page book contains 222 numbered entries (three per page) plus detailed instructions for completing those all-important entries.
Your notary stamp/seal and recordbook (journal) are mission-critical tools, enabling you to complete and properly document every notarial act you perform. Quality tools truly do make the notary! To add an American Society of Notaries-made stamp, seal and recordbook to your notary public toolkit, give us a call at 850-671-5164 or email carly@asnnotary.org, today.
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