Questions? Just Ask!

How To Become a Notary Public and Open Your Own Business If you want to work at home, open a mobile notary public business, or work in any office that could use a notary on duty during the hours you want to work, you might enjoy becoming a notary public.

by Anne Hart

If you want to work at home, open a mobile notary public business, or work in any office that could use a notary on duty during the hours you want to work, you might enjoy becoming a notary public. You have to pass a state examination to become a commissioned Notary Public. You'll need a correspondence, online, or classroom training course to prepare you to hopefully pass your state's examination.

There's a growing need for Notary Publics to work in the financial, real estate, business, insurance, title insurance, law, and business professions.

Banks and even some nursing homes and hospitals have Notary Publics on call. You can work at home, rent office space in someone else's office, or work for a company, such as a finance firm, bank, or any other business office that will rent you desk and phone space. You can advertise online. You can combine a Notary career with an office administration career or legal assistant's duties.

A Notary Public protects his or her employer's business and is trained to detect fraud. You can even combine being a Notary Public with another occupation from handwriting analysis to real estate sales, financial planning, or insurance claims. Or work alone as a Notary Public on call, working your hours, coming to people's homes or offices, or setting up an office at home or even in a kiosk in a public place, like an airport, financial district mall, or retirement complex.

What you'll need are instruction in your state's codes pertaining to notary practices. You need to be able to identify and document parties connected with legal documents. You'll need to learn about work environment relationships and combine your career with office administration process revisions.

You need to study bonding and insurance requirements because you need to be bonded and carry insurance if you're working as an independent contractor. You don't want to be liable for false signatures, so you need liability insurance. You'll need to learn about jury service and acknowledgments.

You need training in wills and powers of attorney. You need to know about federal document restrictions. You'll learn all this in a short course, usually a one day course in a school of Notary Public training.

You'll have to learn what other Notary Publics charge as competitive fees. And you'll have to learn about misconduct and penalties, oaths and affirmations, and deposition proceedings. People asked to sign in front of you take an oath that they are telling the truth and that the signatures before you are real and true signatures, so you'll need to know those procedures.

Your course should have an in-class practical application workshop included. Make sure the instructor is an active Commissioned Notary Public. Courses run around $120 or more and usually are short. Check the professional development courses in extended study programs of your local universities.

I know of one highly recommended school, the California School of Notary Public, offering a course at the extended studies department of University of California, Hayward. It's given from 9am to 4 pm twice in the fall semester. After that date, contact the school to refer you to other locations, times and dates, or other schools, perhaps, or check your local area libraries for schools offering Notary Public training.

Make sure the school you pick actually prepares you to take your state's exam to commission you as a Notary Public. You may also try the lists of schools accredited in your area to offer such training or inquire at www.extension.csuhayward.edu for any information of future course offerings. Your state may need professional Notaries. So prepare to take your state's exam, and acquire a skill that you can use in many ways when you pass the exam. The training may even lead to further study of related occupations. It's a start and a possible business or new career.

One of the great points about being a Notary Public is that nobody can tell you you're too old to work as long as you're able to pass the exam and get commissioned. You can set up your own business and work when you want.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Copyright Anne Hart - Author of 51 how-to books and booklets for writers (and career development books, scripts, and plays). Awarded KFMBTV (Channel 8 News) Harold Keen graduate scholarship in professional writing in 1977. Winner of Mensa National Essay Writing Competition Scholarship, 1979. Wrote popular book: Winning Resumes for Computer Personnel, Barron's Ed. Series, NY 1998. My 1997 book made #15 on the best-sellers list of computer books on journalism and technology (writing for the digital media). Book editor for 37 years.

Do you know someone who would benefit from this article? We can send your friend a strictly confidential, one-time email telling them about this article. Your privacy and your friend's privacy is your business... no spam! Click here and tell a friend!

Add the Straight Talk Syndicated Column to your site. Details here...