Title 5 — Government Operations

This Chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Model Notary Law. COMMENT: This Chapter is basically the Model Notary Law as promulgated by the National Notaries Association. The Guam Legislature has made various amendments to conform to local administrative needs and organiz…

This Chapter shall be construed and applied to advance its underlying purposes, which are: (a) To promote, serve, and protect the public interest; (b) To clarify and modernize the law governing notaries; and (c) To make uniform notarial laws among the jurisdictions enacting it. 2…

The existing bond, seal, length of commission term, and liability of current notaries commissioned before this Chapter’s effective date may not be invalidated, modified, or terminated by this Chapter, but those notaries shall comply with this Chapter in performing notarizations a…

Court Officers. None of the provisions of this Chapter applies to any certification by official court reporters of transcripts of trials or other Court proceedings, or to the authentication of Court documents by other ministerial officers of the Court pursuant to statute or Court…

As used in this Chapter: (a) Acknowledgment means a notarial act in which a notary certifies that a signer, whose identity is proven on the basis of satisfactory evidence, has admitted, in the notary’s presence, having signed a document voluntarily for its stated purpose. (b) Com…

This Chapter shall take effect ninety (90) days following its enactment into law. Any notary public who is commissioned prior to the effective date of this Chapter shall continue to exercise the duties and responsibilities until his or her commission expires. Subsequent applicati…

Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, there is established a fund to be known as the “Notary Public Revolving Fund” (the Fund), which shall be maintained separate and apart from other funds of the government of Guam. All funds generated from fees under this Chapter for applica…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (c), the Attorney General shall commission as a notary any qualified person who submits an application in accordance with this Chapter. (b) A person qualified for a notarial commission must: (1) Be at least eighteen (18) years of age; (2) Resi…

A person commissioned as a notary by the Attorney General may perform notarial acts in Guam for a term of four (4) years, unless the notary’s commission is revoked under § 33510 or the notary has resigned under § 33552 of this Chapter.

(a) As authorized by the Attorney General of Guam, a Guam commissioned notary public residing on Guam shall be authorized to perform notarial acts in foreign countries for Guam residents or individuals requiring a document to be notarized for and recorded in Guam in a manner stri…

No notarial commission may be issued unless the notary has produced, as part of the application, evidence that, upon commissioning, a bond is in force in the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000). The bond must be executed by a licensed surety for the whole term of the notary’s co…

An applicant for recommissioning as a notary shall submit a new application and comply anew with the provisions of this Article 2. PART 2 – APPLICATION

Every application for a notarial commission must be made on forms provided by the Attorney General and include, at least: (a) A statement of the applicant’s personal qualifications; (b )When required, an examination written by the applicant; (c) A notarized declaration by the app…

The application must show: (a) The applicant’s age; (b) The applicant’s residence and business address in Guam; (c) That the applicant can read and write English; (d) All criminal convictions of the applicant, including any pleas of guilty and nolo contendere or no contest; and (…

(a) Every first-time applicant shall be required to pass a written examination that tests the applicant’s knowledge of notarial laws and procedures and is based on materials distributed by the Attorney General with the application forms. (b) The Attorney General shall give public…

Every applicant for a notarial commission shall sign the following declaration in the presence of a notary: "Declaration of Applicant I, ____________ (name of applicant), solemnly swear (or affirm) under penalty of perjury that the personal information in this application is true…

Every applicant for a notarial commission, except for applicants who are government employees, shall pay to the Treasurer of Guam a non-refundable fee of One Hundred Dollars ($100). All fees shall be deposited into the Notary Public Revolving Fund and used according to § 33106 of…

Disciplinary information in an applicant’s or notary’s Statement of Personal Qualifications under paragraphs (d) and (e) of § 33211 of this Chapter must be used by the Attorney General and designated territorial employees for the sole purpose of performing official duties under t…

(a) The Attorney General may commission any number of government employees to act as notaries, but notaries so empowered may perform notarial acts only during their hours of employment with their respective government agencies. Such acts include the notarization for members of th…

A notary is empowered to perform the following notarial acts: (a) Acknowledgments; (b) Oaths and affirmations; (c) Jurats; and (d) Copy certifications. 2015 NOTE: Subsection designations were altered to reflect the Compiler’s alpha-numeric scheme pursuant to 1 GCA § 1606.

A notary is disqualified from performing notarial acts if the notary: (a) Is a signer of or named in the document that is to be notarized; (b) Will receive directly from a transaction connected with the notarial act any commission, fee (except for attorneys), advantage, right, ti…

(a) A notary may not influence a person to enter into or not to enter into a lawful transaction involving a notarial act by the notary. (b) A notary shall perform notarial acts in lawful transactions for any requesting person who tenders the appropriate fee specified in § 33310 o…

A notary may not execute a certificate containing a statement known by the notary to be false or perform any official action with intent to deceive or defraud.

A notary may not endorse or promote any product, service, contest, or other offering if the notary’s title or seal is used in the endorsement or promotional statement.

(a) A non-attorney notary may complete but may not select notarial certificates, and may not assist another person in drafting, completing, selecting, or understanding a document or transaction requiring a notarial act. (b) This section does not preclude a notary who is duly qual…

(a) Subject to the provisions contained in this section, every Notary Public may demand and receive the following fees: (1) For taking acknowledgment or proof of a deed or other instrument, to include the seal and writing of the certificate, for the first two (2) signatures, Ten …

Notaries shall display an English language schedule of fees for notarial acts, as specified in 33310(a) of this Chapter. No part of any displayed notarial fee schedule may be printed in smaller than 10-point type. ---------- ARTICLE 4 JOURNAL AND SEAL PART 1 – JOURNAL

A notary shall keep, maintain, protect as a public record, and provide for lawful inspection a chronological, permanently bound, official journal of notarial acts, containing numbered pages.

(a) For every notarial act, the notary shall record in the journal before the time of notarization at least the following: (1) The date and time of day of the notarial act; (2) The type of notarial act; (3) A description of the document or proceeding; (4) The signature and printe…

At the time of notarization, the notary’s journal must be signed, as applicable, by: (1) The person for whom a notarial act is performed; and (2) The two (2) witnesses to a signature by mark of a document that is notarized.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (e) of this section, and notwithstanding 5 GCA, Chapter 10 or any other law, a journal of notarial acts is an official public record that may be inspected only in the notary’s presence by an individual whose identity is personally kn…

In completing a notarial act, a notary shall sign on the notarial certificate exactly and only the name indicated on the notary’s commission.

(a) A notary shall keep an official notarial seal that is the exclusive property of the notary and that may not be used by any other person or surrendered to an employer upon termination of employment. (b) Upon resignation, revocation, or expiration of a notarial commission, or d…

(a) Near the notary’s official signature on a notarial certificate, the notary shall affix in black ink a sharp, legible, and photographically reproducible inked stamp impression of the notarial seal that must include the following elements: (1) The notary’s name exactly as is in…

(a) A vendor may not provide a notary seal, either inking or embossing, to a person claiming to be a notary, unless the person presents the following documents, which the vendor must retain for a period of three (3) years: A photocopy of the person’s notarial commission, attached…

A notary shall use a certificate in substantially the following form in notarizing the signature or mark of persons acknowledging for themselves or as partners, corporate officers, attorneys in fact, or in other representatives capacities, or may use such other forms of certifica…

A notary shall use a jurat certificate in substantially the following form in notarizing a signature on an affidavit, deposition, or other sworn or affirmed written declaration: “Territory of Guam. Subscribed and sworn to before me this _____ day of ________, 19____ by __________…

A notary shall use a certificate in substantially the following form in notarizing a certified copy: “Territory of Guam. On this ____ day of ___________, ____, I certify that the preceding or attached document, and the duplicate retained by me as a notarial record, are true, exac…

(a) A notary is liable to any person for all damages proximately caused that person by the notary’s official misconduct in performing a notarization. (b) A surety for a notary’s bond is liable to any person for damages proximately caused that person by the notary’s official misco…

Recovery of damages against a notary, surety, or employer does not require that the notary’s misconduct be the sole proximate cause of the damages. PART 2 – REVOCATION

(a) The Attorney General may revoke a notarial commission on any ground for which an application for a notarial commission may be denied under 33201 of this Chapter. (b) Resignation or expiration of a notarial commission does not terminate or preclude an investigation into a nota…

(a) The Attorney General may deliver a written Official Warning to Cease Misconduct to any notary whose actions are judged to be official misconduct under § 33104 of this Chapter. (b) The Attorney General may seek a court injunction to prevent a person from violating any provisio…

A notary who knowingly and repeatedly performs or fails to perform any act prohibited or mandated respectively by this Chapter is guilty of a third degree felony. Except as authorized under Article 10 of this Chapter, a notary who knowingly performs a notarization for a person wh…

The remedies of this Chapter supplement other remedies and penalties provided by law. PART 3 - WILLFUL CRIMES

Any person not a notary who knowingly acts as or otherwise impersonates a notary is guilty of a third degree felony. Impersonation includes performing notarial acts when the commission of the person performing has expired or been revoked or the person has resigned his or her comm…

Any person who knowingly obtains, conceals, defaces, or destroys the seal, journal, or official records of a notary is guilty of a third degree felony.

Any person who knowingly solicits, coerces, or in any way influences a notary to commit official misconduct is guilty of a third degree felony. ---------- ARTICLE 7 MISCELLANEOUS

Within thirty (30) days after the change of a notary’s business or residence address, the notary shall deliver to the Attorney General, by certified mail or other means providing a receipt, a signed notice of the change, giving both old and new addresses.

(a) A notary with a change of name shall deliver to the Attorney General a signed notice of the change, giving both old and new names and the effective date of the new name. (b) Starting on the effective date of the change, a notary with a new name officially shall sign that name…

Within ten (10) days after the loss or theft of any official journal or seal, the notary shall deliver to the Attorney General, by certified mail or other means providing a receipt, a signed notice of the loss or theft, and inform the appropriate law enforcement agency in the cas…