5.2 Seal and Stamp Requirements

When a Stamp Is Required — and When It Isn't

Maine's stamp rule is one of the most heavily tested topics in the chapter because it differs by medium. Under RULONA, the official stamp is the inked or electronic image a notary places on a record; Maine law uses the term official stamp rather than seal, and an embosser alone is never sufficient.

The Secretary of State's exact guidance is that "a notarial act regarding an in-person paper record does not require the use of a notary public stamp," but "the Secretary of State strongly suggests that a notary stamp be used on all notarizations, unless the use of the stamp is prohibited." For all electronic or remote notarizations the stamp is required — there is no paper-style optionality online.

Why Use a Stamp Even When Optional

If you skip the stamp on a paper act, every required element must still appear on the notarial certificate in legible handwriting or type:

• The notary's name as it appears on the commission
• The words "Notary Public"
• "State of Maine" or "Maine"
• The commission expiration date
• The notary's signature

A stamp packages those elements into one reproducible image, which is why recorders of deeds and out-of-state recipients expect it. Missing or illegible certificate information is a common reason a county registry rejects a recorded instrument, so the stamp is a practical safeguard even though the law leaves it optional.

Required Contents of the Stamp

Whether physical or electronic, if a stamp is used it must contain exactly these elements:

The reproducibility requirement is substantive, not cosmetic: the stamp must "be capable of being copied together with the record to which it is affixed or attached or logically associated." A faint, smeared, or over-large stamp that does not photocopy cleanly fails this test. Practically, notaries use a photographically reproducible ink (black is most common; blue is also accepted) and keep the impression clear of signatures and text.

What the Stamp Must NOT Be

• An embosser alone — a raised, inkless seal does not reproduce when copied, so it cannot satisfy the stamp requirement by itself (it may supplement an inked stamp).
• A stamp showing a county instead of, or in addition to, the required state-level identity — Maine notaries are commissioned statewide, so county designation is not part of the required content.
• A stamp bearing the notary's address, Social Security number, or date of birth — none of these belong on the official stamp.

Electronic and Remote Stamps

For electronic and RON acts, the stamp becomes an electronic image with the same four content elements, attached to or logically associated with the electronic record. Before performing any electronic or remote act, a Maine notary must first file the "Notice to Perform Electronic and/or Remote Online Notarizations" with the Secretary of State and use a tamper-evident technology so that any later change to the record is detectable. The electronic stamp and the notary's electronic signature together must be attributable solely to the notary and under the notary's sole control.

Securing and Disposing of the Stamp

The guiding principle is sole control: because the stamp authenticates the notary's authority, allowing anyone else to use it — even an employer or coworker — is misconduct. On the exam, the disposal answer is "disable or destroy," not "keep," "return to the vendor," or "give to the employer."

Exam Traps

• Saying the stamp is required for paper acts — it is optional for in-person paper but mandatory for electronic/RON.
• Putting a county on the stamp — Maine commissions are statewide.
• Forgetting the commission expiration date is a required element.
• Believing an embosser alone satisfies the requirement — it does not reproduce.

Practical Placement and Recorder Acceptance

Even though the law does not dictate stamp dimensions, placement matters for documents headed to a county registry of deeds. The impression should sit near the notarial certificate, clear of signatures, text, and the document margins, so it photographs and microfilms cleanly. Registries routinely reject instruments where the stamp overlaps the signature line or bleeds off the page, because the recording copy then fails the reproducibility standard. A second clean impression is preferable to a smudged one squeezed into a margin.

For electronic acts, the analog of "clean placement" is using a Secretary-of-State-acceptable platform whose tamper-evident technology binds the stamp image and electronic signature to the record so any later alteration is detectable.