5.1 Notary Fees

What the Statute Actually Says

Connecticut General Statutes (CGS) § 3-95 is the controlling fee law. It provides that the fee for any act performed by a notary public is five dollars ($5.00), plus an additional thirty-five cents ($0.35) for each mile of travel if the notary goes to the signer. The cap is a ceiling, not a required price: charging $5.00, charging $2.00, or charging nothing are all lawful. Exam writers love this nuance because candidates often assume $5.00 is mandatory.

The single most-tested fact is the dollar amount itself. Memorize it: $5.00 per act, $0.35 per mile. Notice that the statute frames the fee around the act a notary performs, not around the document, the number of pages, or the time spent. This drafting choice drives almost every fee question on the exam, because it lets a single document generate multiple lawful charges while still keeping each individual charge tightly capped. A notary who internalizes "the cap follows the act" will answer correctly even on unfamiliar fact patterns.

Per-Act, Not Per-Document

The cap attaches to each notarial act, not to each piece of paper. A single document may contain several acts. Each may be charged separately up to $5.00.

If a signing agent notarizes a 4-signature refinance with four acknowledgments, the lawful notarial-act fee ceiling is 4 × $5.00 = $20.00 — separate from any signing-service or courier fee a third party arranges, which is not a notary fee at all.

The Travel Allowance

The $0.35-per-mile travel fee is in addition to the act fee and is the only mileage charge the statute authorizes. Key constraints:

• It must be agreed upon in advance with the signer. Surprising a client with mileage after the fact is improper and a common exam trap.
• It is tied to actual distance traveled; the manual contemplates the notary documenting the agreement.
• Worked example: a notary drives 12 miles each way (24 miles round trip) to perform two acknowledgments. Lawful maximum = (2 × $5.00) + (24 × $0.35) = $10.00 + $8.40 = $18.40.

Remote and Free Services

The same $5.00-per-act cap applies to remote online notarization (RON); there is no special video surcharge in the statute. Many employer-notaries (banks, law firms, town clerks) provide service free to customers or staff — perfectly lawful, since the cap only limits the maximum.

Common Traps

• "$5.00 per document" — wrong; it is per act.
• "Notaries must charge $5.00" — wrong; it is a ceiling.
• Adding a convenience or signing fee as a notary fee — the only fees CGS § 3-95 authorizes are the $5.00 act fee and the $0.35 mileage.

Separating Notary Fees From Service Fees

A recurring source of confusion is the difference between the statutory notary fee and the service or convenience fees that mobile notaries and signing agents charge. CGS § 3-95 governs only the notarial-act fee and the mileage allowance. A mobile notary who books appointments may, by private contract, charge a separate fee for their time, scheduling, printing, or after-hours availability — those are business charges, not notary fees, and the statute does not cap them. But the notary may never relabel a $40 business charge as the "notary fee," because the act fee itself is hard-capped at $5.00.

The exam frames this as a notary who tries to charge $25 "to notarize" a document; that is improper. The honest practice is to itemize: $5.00 notarial act, $0.35 per mile, and any lawful private service charge listed separately.

Recording and Disclosing Fees

Although Connecticut does not require a fee schedule to be posted, transparency is the safest practice and aligns with the Secretary of the State's emphasis on professionalism. Tell the signer the act fee and any agreed mileage before you begin, and — if you keep the recommended journal — log the fee charged for each act. This protects you from later disputes that you overcharged, and it makes any travel-fee agreement easy to prove. Employer-notaries who waive fees should still note "no charge" so the record is complete. A clean fee record is part of the same defensive posture as the journal discussed in the next section.

2026 Current Events

A 2026 bill, SB 262, would raise the maximum act fee from $5.00 to $10.00. As of this writing it remains in the Joint Committee on Judiciary and has not been enacted. Pending legislation does not change current law, so for exam purposes the correct answer is $5.00 per act plus $0.35 per mile unless and until a fee-increase bill is signed and your test materials are explicitly updated. Watching for changes like this is itself good practice — fee caps are statutory, and a diligent notary confirms the current figure each renewal cycle rather than assuming it is fixed forever.