Colorado notary bond

Colorado does not require a notary bond

Colorado does not require a surety bond for a notary commission. Applicants complete a state-approved training course and examination. Colorado notaries are personally liable for damages caused by their notarial acts, which is why errors and omissions insurance is widely carried.

What that means for a Colorado notary

The absence of a bond does not reduce a notary's exposure; it removes the only third party that would otherwise pay first. In a bonding state a claimant recovers from the surety up to the penalty and the surety recovers from the notary. In Colorado the claimant proceeds directly against the notary for the full loss. Real estate closings, powers of attorney, wills and loan documents are where notary claims arise, and the damages in those matters routinely exceed what any individual notary can absorb.

Becoming a notary in Colorado

The commissioning authority is the Colorado Secretary of State, and the commission runs 4 years. To be commissioned, an applicant must complete a state-approved notary training course and pass the Secretary of State's examination, then apply online with proof of course completion and identification. Because no bond is filed, the application is complete once the oath, the fee and any required course or examination are done; the notary's first act of risk management is therefore the E&O policy, not a filing.

Identifying signers in Colorado

Because Colorado's notarial acts statute follows the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, a signer is identified by personal knowledge, by a current government-issued identification bearing a photograph and signature (a passport, driver's license or similar credential, unexpired or within the grace the statute allows), or by the oath or affirmation of a credible witness who is personally known to the notary or identified by such a credential. The signer must appear before the notary at the time of the act. Nearly every notary claim in every state traces to a failure of one of these two requirements, personal appearance or satisfactory identification, and in a state without a bond the consequence of that failure falls directly on the notary.

Journal and recordkeeping

Colorado requires every notary to keep a journal of notarial acts, in paper or electronic form, and to retain it for ten years after the last entry. Whatever the statute requires, a contemporaneous journal entry recording the date, the act, the signer, the identification presented and the document is the notary's best evidence when a claim is made and its absence is the claimant's best evidence; an underwriter will ask for it first.

Notary E&O insurance in Colorado

Notary Errors & Omissions insurance is the coverage Colorado notaries carry. It pays claims arising from honest errors in official notarial acts, provides a defense, and does not have to be repaid. Limits from $10,000 to $100,000 or more per term are available, with a group form for employers that want every notary in the office covered. Notaries who act as loan signing agents should read the application carefully: notary E&O covers notarial acts, not the separate duties of a signing agent.

Employer notaries

Banks, law firms, title and escrow agencies and signing services in Colorado commission their staff in numbers, and a claim against an employee notary is nearly always brought against the employer as well, on ordinary principles of vicarious liability. The employer's general liability policy does not respond to a notarial error, and there is no bond to absorb the first loss. A group Notary E&O policy naming every commissioned employee is the instrument written for that exposure.

Remote notarization in Colorado

Colorado authorizes remote notarization for notaries who register with the Secretary of State and use an approved provider. No bond is required. Remote acts are authorized through an approved remote notarization provider after completing the additional remote course. Remote notarizations are used disproportionately for the highest-value documents and for signers the notary never meets in person, which is why an E&O limit at the upper end of the range is advisable for a Colorado notary who takes them up.

Voluntary bonds

Some employers, title companies and signing services require a bond regardless of state law. If you have been asked for one, tell us the amount and the obligee named in the request and an underwriter will place it.

Colorado notary bond questions