There are often financial or legal cases in your company where you’ll need to verify important documents.
For example, if your business is handling a significant financial transaction, it’s essential that this is documented correctly to mitigate the risk of fraud.
To ensure the authenticity of these types of documents, they need to be to be certified by a notary public. This is known as a notarized letter.
Let’s look at how to write a notarized letter, together with use cases for notarized letters in your own business.
What is a notarized letter?
A notarized letter is a document certified by a licensed public officer (known as a notary public).
What is a notary or notary public?
A notary public is a state government-appointed official who can perform notarizations or notarial acts to prevent fraud and confirm the signer understands the document they are signing.
A notary is responsible for serving as a witness to verify the signer is who they say they are and confirming their willingness and awareness to sign the document.
This impartial witness oversees the signing of documents, and the notary’s presence confirms the authenticity of the included signatures.
A notary public is an official trained in identity verification, witnessing signatures, and recording the notarization process.
Identifying a fake or counterfeit ID is a crucial element of notarizing documents.
To verify legitimate signatures, a notary public must perform a sequence of careful checks during the notarization process.
Along with identity verification steps, they must also check for potential signs of coercion.
A notary public must certify that all the signers understand what they are signing and that they have the legal capacity to sign.
For example, if an individual is heavily medicated or not of sound mind, the notary would refuse to notarize the document.
Legal requirements for notarization
During the document notarization process, the notary will ask you to present proper identification.
This must include identification containing a photograph, signature, and physical description.
Acceptable forms of ID for a notary include a driver’s license, state government-issued ID, passport, or military ID.
Documents must not be signed in advance because the notary needs to watch you sign.
If the notary doesn’t witness your signature, they can’t verify the signature on the document.
Bear in mind that notaries are not able to provide legal advice or evaluate documents.
It’s possible that to get a notarized letter, you will need to pay a fee to cover notary expenses.
What is the difference between a notarized letter and a certified letter?
A notarized letter must be verified by a notary public to confirm the signer’s identification.
A certified letter requires a recipient signature to confirm proof of delivery.
A postal service professional can certify a letter, whereas only a notary public is required for a notarized letter.
How does a notarized letter look?
The notarized letter format can vary depending on the type of document.
Every notarized letter, though, will contain a stamp along with the date on which the document was notarized.
Often a notary will include a notary seal or raised stamp to emboss the document, which sets a notary letter format apart from standard documents.
Notary seals are inked rubber stamps that can come in various colors, shapes, and sizes.
Typically, notary seals are round or rectangular and provide the notary public’s credentials for authentication.
An official seal includes important and unique information for the notary public: their name, state, commission number, and commission expiration date.
The purpose of a notary seal is to certify the authenticity of a document and confirm that the contents of a document are correct.
What is the cost to have a letter notarized?
Notary costs can vary by state and also by the type of notarization (traditional vs. online or mobile.)
Check the notary fees for your location.
How to write a letter to be notarized
It’s important to to ensure the letter includes certain elements, use this template as an example.
1. Use a proper heading
First things first, use a distinct heading to help the notary understand the document they’re notarizing.
For example, to make notarizing affidavits easier, you might add the term “Affidavit” in the heading.
Placing the heading in the middle of the page draws the notary’s attention to it and makes notarizing a simpler task.
The clearer you can make the information for the notary, the better.
2. Use the right address
To ensure your letter gets notarized properly, include your complete address — this means your country and state, too.
3. Provide the correct details
Your personal notarized letter must include all the correct information, including the addressee, the purpose of the letter, and any other important details.
This is because the notary may ask clarification questions if any information differs.
4. Include your name
Write your full name and leave enough space for you to add your signature later.
As previously mentioned, it’s essential that the person signing do so only in the presence of the notary.
If you sign the letter without the notary present the letter cannot be notarized or verified.
5. Leave space for signatures
In addition to blank spaces for signatories on the notary letter, also leave room for the notary’s stamp.
You might need to add the location, time, and date to the letter, too.
You can easily create and notarize documents online with PandaDoc Notary.
- Create or select a document or use a template
- Add participants
- Participants enter their personal information and answer knowledge-based authentication questions inside the secure portal
- Participants complete ID verification by uploading a government-issued ID
Create legally binding notarized documents
Creating legally-binding notarized documents is simple with PandaDoc.
If you need a remote notary service, PandaDoc has you covered.
On-demand notaries canyour back. On-demand notaries are available to complete your notarization document online within minutes.
Not only this, but PandaDoc Notary delivers secure ID verification, helping to eliminate fraud and perjury.
Let’s check out some key features of PandaDoc Notary services:
- Activity tracking and notifications: Quickly monitor the status of any sent document and receive notifications for every open, read, or sign event.
- Rich media drag- and- drop document editor: Drag and drop any type of content with ease.
- Custom branding: Customize your documents with your business’s branding to provide brand continuity and a seamless customer experience.
- Content library: Duplicate content from your legal and marketing teams to quickly create notarized letters.
- CRM, Salesforce, and Zapier integrations: Plus more direct integrations to streamline document creation.
- Audit trail and document analytics: View every stage of your documents to meet compliance requirements.
- World-class security: Audio and video recordings encrypted at REST, stored documents encrypted and stored via AWS, and 256-bit SSL processing for all stored data.
- Two-point identification: Knowledge-based identification is combined with live credential information to visually and electronically analyze signers’ ID and identities.
With competitive prices for state-approved notary services, you’ll find that you can create and edit documents such as a notary acknowledgment template on any mobile device.
If you need to notarize multiple documents, you can do this, too, using multiple signers.
Where can I get a letter notarized?
Moving on to how to get a notarized letter, let’s look at where you can get a letter notarized.
Some options include courthouses, credit unions, and asking a legal expert at a law office.
Wherever you decide to get your letter notarized, ensure you take your identification and check the state laws and requirements for each individual location.
Local university
You can ask at the front desk at local colleges for notary services.
Bear in mind that some students decide to become notaries as a part of their educational process, so your local university is a great place to start to get a notarized letter.
Hospital
There may be free notary services available at hospitals.
Again, ask the front desk if there’s a notary available who can assist you.
If you are connected to the hospital in any way, obtaining a free notary service is more likely.
UPS
UPS provides notary services for a fee, the cost of which varies depending on if you pre-book an appointment.
In this case, getting a notarized document will only cost a small fee.
Walk-in UPS visits will cost more. UPS can notarize items such as court documents, trusts, and deeds.
Mobile notary
For a more convenient option, a mobile notary service is the way to go.
Many mobile notaries operate on weekends and after hours.
A mobile notary must travel to your location.
During the notarization process, a mobile notary collects the signatures of all the relevant parties and verifies their identities.
A mobile notary will also check the signatories against specific details and ensure none of the parties involved are signing the documents due to intimidation.
You can find mobile notaries online.
Online notary
Another favorable way to get documents notarized is to use an online notary service.
Online notary services are more convenient since you don’t have to travel anywhere or pay associated costs.
For example, PandaDoc Notary is a state-approved remote online notary service that enables you to notarize from anywhere.
Including unlimited audio-video recordings and cloud-based electronic journaling of every notarial act, you get peace of mind that your notarized documents are legitimate.
Every notarial act includes secure ID verification to reduce fraud with KBI (knowledge-based identification) questions and ID credential validation.
PandaDoc Notary delivers an authorized and trusted Remote Online Notarization platform that allows you to create, edit, eSign, and notarize documents at your convenience.
You can even invite multiple signers to one document from any location.
Not only that, but if you need help getting started with your notarized letters, PandaDoc also provides notary letter templates.
Examples of notarized letters
To help you understand the notarization process and the types of documents that may need notarization, let’s look at some examples.
Notarized letter of authorization
A notarized letter of authorization is a legal document that allows someone to act on behalf of the person writing the letter — perhaps even to notarize for a family member.
Letters of authorization are often used to ask someone to take control of your business, power of attorney, or in a situation where you’re sick and require duty cover.
A notarized letter of authorization is a formal document that legitimizes your word.
This means that if any future legal issues arise, the document can be used as proof in court proceedings.
In the letter of authorization, you must clearly state your reasons for delegating the tasks to the person mentioned in the document, together with the specific duties the person must undertake on your behalf.
Authorizing someone to act on your behalf means that they’re accountable for the task, as notarizing it means it becomes a legally-binding document.
Don’t forget to add your contact information in the letter.
Notarized letter of residency
A letter of residency (also known as an affidavit of residency) is a legal document attesting to the legal city, state, country, or township of residence of the person executing the affidavit.
A notarized letter of residency is used for driver licensing, vehicle registration, and voter registration requirements.
A notarized letter of residency is also often used for educational needs, such as a school requiring parents to formally confirm the proof of residency of a student.
For example, state-supported universities often offer substantially reduced tuition to in-state students, so they need to verify the student’s residency.
A residency affidavit is typically used as the supplemental documentation required by the university or college.
Another use case for a notarized letter of residency is for tax purposes.
In situations where a person has more than one home, they must declare one of them as their official residence in order to pay the correct taxes.
Notarized letter of consent
You may need a notarized letter of consent for a child traveling when someone needs to confirm they’re legally allowed to take a minor out of the country.
A parent’s consent is required by way of a notarized letter of consent and usually valid for 90 days.
Examples of notarized document statements
Some examples of notarized document statements include oaths, affidavits, and certificates that you can create with document management software.
Let’s look at these in a little more detail:
Oaths
Oaths are written or spoken formal affirmations that support a statement or act to be honest or truthful.
Oaths usually serve three purposes: they confirm that a statement is the truth, that a testimony will be the truth, or that an individual will faithfully perform public office duties.
Affidavit
Affidavits are statements that confirm individuals act out of their own free will.
These types of document statements are used in court proceedings, such as property dispute litigation matters, divorce, and family law cases.
Certificates
Examples of notarized certificates include records of birth, death, marriage, and incorporation.
A notary officer must ensure that copies of certificates are exactly the same as the original document.
Create and notarize documents fast with PandaDoc
PandaDoc Notary makes it easy to create and notarize documents online.
Try it for yourself, and schedule a free, personalized demo.
Disclaimer
PandaDoc is not a law firm, or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. This page is not intended to and does not provide legal advice. Should you have legal questions on the validity of e-signatures or digital signatures and the enforceability thereof, please consult with an attorney or law firm. Use of PandaDoc services are governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Originally published April 7, 2023, updated November 8, 2024
Frequently asked questions
-
The official process of notarization applies to documents relating to the adoption of a child, citizenship certificates, and some transcripts.
Any documents related to bank statements, financial records, and official documents related to accounts often also require notarization.
Other examples include business or corporate records like articles of incorporation, commercial invoices, business registration documents, and employment letters.
-
Because notaries are trusted individuals, a specific vetting process is required for an individual to be able to notarize a document.
This process typically includes registering signatures with a professional organization, in addition to registering for government-approved educational courses.
Notaries also must take the oath of office and buy their own notary seal to authorize notarized documents.
-
If you’re learning how to write a notarized letter, you’ll need to visit a notary public, validate your identity, sign the document to be notarized, and if relevant, pay the fee for the notary’s signature and time.
To this end, you’ll need your original valid photo identification document, together with proof of your residential address.
-
A permission letter is a formal letter requesting authorization for a specific condition, activity, or circumstance, for example, a parent writing a permission letter for their child’s school.
Some permission letters that require notarization include:
- Authorization letter
- Letter of residency
- Letter of consent (medical, travel, etc.)
- Power of attorney
