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6 Little-Known Facts About the New York Notary Stamp (That’ll Make You a Notary Expert)

new york notary stamp

With a population of around 8.4 million residents, there is no question that many people in New York could benefit from your notary services.

Beyond the willingness to work hard, you’ve invested time to understand the requirements to get a New York Notary Stamp. Specifically, you’ve:

  • Met the eligibility requirements for a New York Notary Public
  • Studied New York’s Public License Law
  • Passed the one-hour NYS Notary Public test to affirm your understanding of New York notary laws
  • Paid all the charges — $15 for the examination and $60 for the application
  • Received your notary ID card from the department of state in the mail

All that remains is to get a certified New York Notary Public stamp toget off to a running start.

Below are the six least-talked-about facts about a New York Notary Stamp that could help you deliver better notary services.

Fact 1. A New York Notary Stamp Over the Sign Voids the Document

All the states require public notaries to stamp, print, or typewrite details of commission on documents to finalize and authenticate notary services.

However, stamping over your notary sign in New York may void the document you’re notarizing. New York Law requires notaries to seal or stamp on an open area of the document not covering any signature or other important text. Otherwise, stamping on notarial wording or signature makes your notarization illegible.

When a document lacks enough space for notary seals or stamps, the best option is to attach a notary certificate (containing notary terms — including acknowledgment, an attestation clause, or jurat) to the document.

You must write the words “See the attached” to alert the receiving agency of the notarial service’s finalization on the document with minimal space.

Fact 2. A New York Notary Seal Differs From a Notary Stamp

New York Notary Seal Differ

Stamps are different from notary seals.

A notary stamp is the inked rubber stamp that contains all state-required information, usually the Notary Public’s name, state of commission, and date of commission expiration.

Using it requires ink pads and other notary supplies to create stamp impressions. In New York, your stamp’s ink color must be black to validate your notarization.

Notary stamps are typically rectangular, and nearly all states require them on every notary transaction.

On the flip side, the notary seal is a raised indentation embossed on the document. It’s usually circular, containing the Notary Public's commission information — usually name and state of commission.

Notary seal embossers used to be the traditional method for documenting notarization instead of today’s notary stamps.

The considerable difference between a stamp and a seal is that embossed seals are not photographically reproducible unless you pre-ink them.

The State of New York does not require embossers, but most notaries use them together with stamp impressions. Whatever the case, seals cannot work in place of stamps.

Fact 3. A New York Notary Stamp is Valid All Over the State, but Out-of-State Notarization Requires Authentication

The state’s law commissions New York Notary stamps all over the state.

However, notarizing documents for out-of-New-York-State use requires signature authentication requests from the county clerks.

That’s why the Secretary of State forwards all applications for a notary public commission to the corresponding county clerk to keep records for public access and verification of the notary’s official signature at the county clerk’s office.

If you find yourself expecting to regularly sign documents in counties other than your county of residence, you might want to file a certificate of official character with other New York State county clerks.

Fact 4. A Notary Journal Complements the Work of a Notary Stamp

Notary Journal Complements

New York State does not demand a notary journal. However, a notary journal provides a written record of the notary’s official acts, which is essential.

For instance, if a document you notarized gets lost, altered, or a court challenges its validity, you’ll have all the details of the transaction.

At the same time, suppose any stakeholder in the notarized document accuses you of a careless mistake; a notary journal will provide supporting evidence that you acted appropriately during the transaction.

Fact 5. Stamps and Seals Aren’t Mandatory in New York, but They’re Industry Standard

The New York Exec §137 does not require a notary to have stamps or seals.

To validate notarization, you can either typewrite, print, or stamp below your notary signature — with black ink — the details of your commission.

In other words, all that you need to officiate your notarization is to display the words “Notary Public, State of New York,” the county of original qualification, the commission expiration date, your name, and license number in black ink below your signature.

This can be time-consuming if you go the typewrite or print way.

Choosing to buy a New York notary stamp is more professional and can ease your notary work by:

  • Cutting down the typewriting or printing time whenever you want to notarize a document
  • Allowing convenient out-of-state notarization because some states cannot consider notarization valid without a stamp or seal

Buying New York notary stamps can shoulder all the heavy notarial-officiation work for you.

Fact 6. A Notary Stamp Isn’t a Ticket to Draft Legal Documents in the Public State of New York

According to NY CLS Exec §135, New York notary stamps do not officiate you to practice law unless you are a lawyer. For instance, you cannot advise on law or draft any legal document.

A notary stamp cannot officiate any kind of legal papers such as deeds, wills, bills of sale, mortgages, chattel mortgages, contracts, leases, complaints, and all pleading papers or any document that the courts say are legal papers.

Get a Ready-for-Work New York Notary Stamp

New York Notary Stamp and Seal
New York Notary Stamp and Seal

Stamps or seals aren’t a notarization requirement in New York. However, they are notary supplies that are nearly impossible to work without — even if you can typewrite your commission detail with the ink color New York law requires.

Buy a New York notary stamp and seal that meets all the state's requirements at Pro Stamps today. What you’ll get:

  • A variety of New York notary stamps — Digital-only or rectangular self-inking stamp
  • A free digital proof self-inking stamp or seal
  • USPS first class shipping service — for free
  • One business day production
  • New York Notary stamp from a certified Notary Stamp Company

Order a New York Notary stamp today.