Title 26, Title 26: Professions and Occupations

§ 5305. Exemptions (a) Judiciary- and law enforcement-related employees. (1) Employee exemptions. (A) Judiciary-related. (i) The persons set forth in subdivision (2)(A) of this subsection, when acting within the scope of their official duties, are exempt from all of the requireme…

§ 5321. Secretary of State’s Office duties The Office shall: (1) provide general information to applicants for commissioning as a notary public; (2) administer fees as provided under section 5324 of this chapter; (3) explain appeal procedures to notaries public and applicants and…

§ 5322. Advisor appointees (a) The Secretary of State shall appoint two notaries public to serve as advisors in matters relating to notarial acts. One of the advisors shall be an attorney selected from a list of at least three licensed attorneys provided by the Vermont Bar Associ…

§ 5323. Rules (a) The Office, with the advice of the advisor appointees, may adopt rules to implement this chapter. The rules may: (1) prescribe the manner of performing notarial acts regarding tangible and electronic records; (2) include provisions to ensure that any change to o…

§ 5324. Fees (a) For the issuance of a commission as a notary public, the Office shall collect a fee of $30.00. (b) For issuance of a special endorsement authorizing the performance of electronic and remote notarial acts in accordance with subsection 5341(d) of this chapter, the …

§ 5341. Commission as notary public; qualifications; no immunity or benefit (a) An individual qualified under subsection (b) of this section may apply to the Office for a commission as a notary public. The applicant shall comply with and provide the information required by rules …

§ 5342. Grounds to deny, refuse to renew, revoke, suspend, or condition commission of notary public (a) The Office may deny, refuse to renew, revoke, suspend, or impose a condition on a commission as notary public for any act or omission that demonstrates the individual lacks the…

§ 5343. Renewals; continuing education (a) Biennially, the Office shall provide a renewal notice to each commissioned notary public. Upon receipt of a notary public’s completed renewal, payment of the fee as set forth in section 5324 of this chapter, and evidence of eligibility, …

§ 5344. Database of notaries public The Office shall maintain an electronic database of notaries public: (1) through which a person may verify the authority of a notary public to perform notarial acts; and (2) that indicates whether a notary public has notified the Office that th…

§ 5345. Prohibitions; offenses (a) A person shall not perform or attempt to perform a notarial act or hold himself or herself out as being able to do so in this State without first having been commissioned. (b) A person shall not use in connection with the person’s name any lette…

§ 5361. Notarial acts in this State; authority to perform (a) A notarial act, as defined in subdivision 5304(10) of this chapter, may only be performed in this State by a notary public commissioned under this chapter. (b) The signature and title of an individual performing a nota…

§ 5362. Authorized notarial acts (a) A notary public may perform a notarial act as authorized by and in accordance with the requirements of this chapter or otherwise by law of this State. (b) A notary public shall not perform a notarial act with respect to a record to which the n…

§ 5363. Requirements for certain notarial acts (a) Acknowledgments. A notary public who takes an acknowledgment of a record shall determine, from personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence of the identity of the individual, that the individual appearing before the officer and ma…

§ 5364. Personal appearance required (a) If a notarial act relates to a statement made in or a signature executed on a record, the individual making the statement or executing the signature shall appear personally before the notary public. (b) [Repealed.] (Added 2017, No. 160 (Ad…

§ 5365. Identification of individual (a) Personal knowledge. A notary public has personal knowledge of the identity of an individual appearing before the officer if the individual is personally known to the officer through dealings sufficient to provide reasonable certainty that …

§ 5366. Signature if individual unable to sign If an individual is physically unable to sign a record, the individual may direct an individual other than the notary public to sign the individual’s name on the record. The notary public shall insert “Signature affixed by (name of o…

§ 5367. Certificate of notarial act (a) A notarial act shall be evidenced by a certificate. The certificate shall: (1) be executed contemporaneously with the performance of the notarial act; (2) be signed and dated by the notary public and be signed in the same manner as on file …

§ 5368. Short-form certificates The following short-form certificates of notarial acts shall be sufficient for the purposes indicated, if completed with the information required by subsections 5367(a) and (b) of this chapter: (1) For an acknowledgment in an individual capacity: S…

§ 5369. Official stamp The official stamp of a notary public shall: (1) include the notary public’s name, jurisdiction, and other information required by the Office; and (2) be capable of being copied together with the record to which it is affixed or attached or with which it is…

§ 5370. Stamping device (a) A notary public is responsible for the security of the notary public’s stamping device and shall not allow another individual to use the device to perform a notarial act. (b) If a notary public’s stamping device is lost or stolen, the notary public or …

§ 5371. Notification regarding performance of notarial act on electronic record; selection of technology (a) A notary public holding a special commission endorsement pursuant to subsection 5341(d) of this title and who is thus authorized to perform notarial acts on electronic rec…

§ 5372. Authority to refuse to perform notarial act (a) A notary public may refuse to perform a notarial act if the notary public is not satisfied that: (1) the individual executing the record is competent or has the capacity to execute the record; or (2) the individual’s signatu…

§ 5373. Validity of notarial acts (a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection 5372(b) of this chapter, the failure of a notary public to perform a duty or meet a requirement specified in this chapter shall not impair the marketability of title or invalidate a notarial act or a…

§ 5374. Notarial act in another state (a) A notarial act performed in another state has the same effect under the law of this State as if performed by a notary public of this State, if the act performed in that state is performed by: (1) a notary public of that state; (2) a judge…

§ 5375. Notarial act under authority of federally recognized Indian tribe (a) A notarial act performed under the authority and in the jurisdiction of a federally recognized Indian tribe has the same effect as if performed by a notary public of this State, if the act performed in …

§ 5376. Notarial act under federal authority (a) A notarial act performed under federal law has the same effect under the law of this State as if performed by a notary public of this State, if the act performed under federal law is performed by: (1) a judge, clerk, or deputy cler…

§ 5377. Evidence of authenticity of notarial act performed in this State (a) The authenticity of the official notarial stamp and signature of a notary public may be evidenced by either: (1) A certificate of authority from the Secretary of State authenticated as necessary. (2) An …

§ 5378. Foreign notarial act (a) In this section, “foreign state” means a government other than the United States, a state, or a federally recognized Indian tribe. (b) If a notarial act is performed under authority and in the jurisdiction of a foreign state or constituent unit of…

§ 5379. Notarial act performed for remotely located individual (a) A remotely located individual may comply with section 5364 of this chapter by using communication technology to appear before a notary public with a special commission endorsement. (b) A notary public located in t…

§ 5380. Computer technology and identity proofing providers; minimum standards (a) Communication technology and identity proofing providers shall develop, maintain, and implement processes and services that are consistent with the requirements of this chapter and industry standar…