The Importance of Including Your Notary's Commission Expiration Date on Notarized Documents

A notarial certificate indicates what actions the document's preparer wants the notary to perform. The venue states that the notarization took place in a particular location that lies within the jurisdiction of the notary public. The presence of a notary commission expiration date shows that the document was notarized at a time when the notary held authority to notarize.

Your state may not require that your notary's commission expiration date be part of the required element of your notary seal or be present on the document in order for it to be valid. For instance, in Tennessee, the notarization is not invalidated if the commission expiration date is missing, but, if it is later determined that your commission had expired or been suspended or revoked at the time the document was notarized, the notarization would be invalid.

If there is not a line designated for the expiration date, you can simply print "My Commission Expires on" and the date under or near your signature. Unless your state law says otherwise, a rubber stamp with the relevant information may be used instead of printing by hand.

Even if a notary's commission expiration date is not required by law, many document recipients will reject the notarization if the expiration date is absent. It is considered a best practice to always include the notary commission expiration date on every document that you notarize.


This article is part of the series that began with What Does a Notary Public Do?

-- Tim Gatewood is a Contributing Writer with the American Association of Notaries