Alaska notary bond

What Alaska requires

Alaska's bond was raised from $1,000 to $2,500 and covers the full four-year term. Because the commission runs from the Lieutenant Governor, the bond must name the State of Alaska as obligee.

Alaska law makes the bond a condition of the commission itself: the commissioning authority will not issue, or will not activate, the commission until the bond is on file. The bond is a faithful performance bond conditioned on the notary's honest and lawful discharge of every duty of the office. Any person who suffers a monetary loss because the notary failed in that duty, whether through negligence, an improper acknowledgment, a defective identification of a signer, or outright fraud, may make a claim against it up to the $2,500.

Filing the bond in Alaska

File the bond with the Lieutenant Governor's office together with the application, oath and the $40 commission fee. Alaska also permits a cash deposit in lieu of a bond, but the surety bond is the option nearly every applicant uses because it avoids tying up cash for four years.

We issue the bond on the form the Office of the Lieutenant Governor prescribes, executed by the surety and with a power of attorney attached where the jurisdiction requires it. You sign as principal where indicated and file. If your jurisdiction requires the notary's signature on the bond to be acknowledged, the instructions that accompany the bond say so.

Cost of a Alaska notary bond

Our total price is $95 for the entire 4 years term. That figure is the surety premium plus a forty-dollar processing fee; there is no application fee, no shipping charge and nothing added at checkout. Divided over the term it is a few dollars a month for the bond that makes your commission possible.

The premium is not a percentage of the bond amount in the way contract and license bonds are priced. Notary bonds are rated as a class because the claim frequency is low and the penalties are modest, which is why a $2,500 bond costs only a fraction of its face value.

Remote online, electronic and eNotary commissions

Alaska authorizes remote online notarization under AS 44.50.075. No separate or enlarged bond is required for remote acts.

The bond is not insurance for you

The single most misunderstood feature of a notary bond is who it protects. The bond protects the people who rely on your notarial acts and the State that commissioned you. When the surety pays a claim, it is entitled to full reimbursement from you, the principal, because the surety's promise is a guarantee of your performance, not a transfer of your risk. Notary Errors & Omissions insurance is the product that transfers the risk: it pays claims for honest errors in your official notarial acts with nothing to repay, and it can pay the defense costs of a claim that turns out to be groundless. Notary E&O is available on the same application, at a discounted rate for bond purchasers.

Alaska notary bond questions