41-319. Journal

(L19, Ch. 56, sec. 1. Eff. 7/1/20)

A. The notary shall keep a paper journal and, except as prescribed by subsection E of this section, shall keep only one journal at a time. The notary shall record all notarial acts in chronological order. The notary shall furnish, when requested, a certified copy of any public record in the notary's journal. Records of notarial acts that violate the attorney-client privilege or that are confidential pursuant to federal or state law are not a public record. Each journal entry shall include at least:

1. The date of the notarial act.

2. A description of the document or type of notarial act.

3. The printed full name, signature and address of each person for whom a notarial act is performed.

4. The type of satisfactory evidence of identity presented to the notary by each person for whom a notarial act is performed, if other than the notary's personal knowledge of the individual is used as satisfactory evidence of identity.

5. A description of the identification document, its serial or identification number and its date of issuance or expiration.

6. The fee, if any, charged for the notarial act.

B. If a notary has personal knowledge of the identity of a signer, the requirements of subsection A, paragraphs 1 through 5 of this section may be satisfied by the notary retaining a paper or electronic copy of the notarized documents for each notarial act.

C. If a notary does more than one notarization for an individual within a six month period, the notary shall have the individual provide satisfactory evidence of identity the first time the notary performs the notarization for the individual but may not require satisfactory evidence of identity or the individual to sign the journal for subsequent notarizations performed for the individual during the six month period.

D. If a notary performs more than one notarization of the same type for a signer either on like documents or within the same document and at the same time, the notary may group the documents together and make one journal entry for the transaction.

E. If one or more entries in a notary public's journal are not public records, the notary public shall keep one journal that contains entries that are not public records and one journal that contains entries that are public records. If a notary public keeps only one journal, that journal is presumed to be a public record. A notary public's journal that contains entries that are not public records is the property of the employer of that notary public and shall be retained by that employer if the notary public leaves that employment. A notary public's journal that contains only public records is the property of the notary public without regard to whether the notary public's employer purchased the journal or provided the fees for the commissioning of the notary public.

F. Except as provided in subsections A and E of this section, the notary's journal is a public record that may be viewed by or copied for any member of the public, but only on presentation to the notary of a written request that details the month and year of the notarial act, the name of the person whose signature was notarized and the type of document or transaction.