Many a times you must be stuck into the situation of getting your document attested from a government official only then the paper will be considered authentic. The government official who usually stamps the paper is called “notary”.

Now one may ask who is notary? Notary public is an officer who can administer the oaths, authenticate the document, statuary declarations and witness the situations. There are many banks and legal institutions who act as notary, but there are individuals also who take up this responsibility.

In almost all the countries notaries are required to go under a training period after clearing the exam. Notaries are one of the oldest government jobs. This job’s origin can be trace from the ancient Rome period where they were called notorious. Just like today notaries then also were required to perform the duties like transcribe state papers, Record public proceedings, and supply magistrate with legal forms. But today the system has changed a little bit. Nowadays the notaries have to sign the deal or witness the deal so as to make it authentic, they have to sign the wills, be part of the government dealing and settlement of property disputes, to note or certify the negotiable instruments, witness of the navigating as well as the carriage of cargo in the ships.

To become a notary public one has to file the application to the secretary of the state along with the fee of $25.00. The receipt will be issued only after the application is completed properly. And to become a notary one must be the citizen of the country and should be of 18 years and above.

After taking the post of the notary the officer is given the seal, an identification card. The seal contains the name of the officer and sometimes the date of expiry and commission come under the stamp only. There are misconceptions to the public that the notary must not see the person to whom he is attesting but it is really important for the notary to see the person and then only attest the documents. This all is done for the verification of the person attested.

Usually the term of the notary is four years and when this term is about to expire then the notary has to file an application to the county clerk along with the fee of $60, this is the place where notaries are registered and the application must be submitted before three to four months of the expiry. The notaries enjoy the benefit of being notary in other town as well that is they can sign or attest the documents in other town also.

There are other notaries also they are called civil law notaries. These notaries have to under go the training as advocating jurists. In Scotland notaries are qualified solicitors and are the members of the law of society of Scotland. They are usually limited to the area of private law. This law rotates around the public and no state. They don’t have the authority to appear before the court on behalf of the client.

One thing should be kept in mind that civil law notary should not be confused with the notary public as they both are entirely different posts.