Georgia notary bond

Georgia does not require a notary bond

Georgia does not require a surety bond for a notary commission. Applications are filed with the clerk of superior court of the county of residence. Georgia notaries are personally liable for their negligence and misconduct, and Georgia sees a high volume of real estate closings, so errors and omissions insurance is commonly carried.

What that means for a Georgia 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 Georgia 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 Georgia

The commissioning authority is the Clerk of Superior Court of the county of residence; Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority, and the commission runs 4 years. To be commissioned, an applicant must apply to the clerk of superior court of the county of residence, with two endorsers who are county residents, and complete the online training the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority provides; a non-resident employed in Georgia may apply in the county of employment. 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 Georgia

Under Georgia law a signer must be personally known to the notary or identified by the evidence the statute specifies, which in every state means a current government-issued identification bearing a photograph and signature, or the oath of a credible witness where the statute permits one. The statutory list is exclusive: an identification not on it is not satisfactory evidence, whatever the notary's confidence in it. 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

Georgia does not require a journal by statute; the Clerks' Authority recommends one, and given Georgia's closing volume most title agencies require their notaries to keep one. 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 Georgia

Notary Errors & Omissions insurance is the coverage Georgia 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 Georgia 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 Georgia

Georgia authorizes remote online notarization on a limited basis. No bond is required. Remote acts are authorized on a limited basis for notaries who complete the remote authorization. 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 Georgia 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.

Georgia notary bond questions