4.3 Required Journal Entries & Prohibited Private Data

Section 4.2 covered the journal itself. This section covers what goes in it. Section 486.705.1 RSMo requires the notary to record the following "for every notarial act... at the time of notarization."

The Eight Required Items

"At the time of notarization" means the entry is made during the meeting, while the principal is present to sign the journal, not reconstructed at the end of the day.

Evidence of Identity: Three Forms (Section 486.705.1(6))

1. Personal knowledge: a statement that the person is personally known to the notary.
2. Identification document: the type of ID, its issuing agency, its serial or identification number, and its date of issuance or expiration.
3. Credible witnesses: the handwritten signature, name, and address of each credible witness and, for credible witnesses the notary does not personally know, a description of the ID documents relied on.

Prohibited Data (Section 486.705.2)

These are the only two items the statute bans. The driver's license or other ID number is required under Section 486.705.1(6)(b), so leaving it out is a recordkeeping error, not a privacy precaution. If a document being notarized contains a Social Security number, the notary describes the document without copying the number.

Optional and Special Entries

• Refusals: A notary may record the circumstances for not performing or completing a requested act (Section 486.705.3). A short note ("Declined; signer did not appear to understand document; daughter answered for her") can be valuable if the refusal is later questioned.
• Corrections: When a notary corrects a completed certificate under Section 486.745.2, the notary shall append to the matching journal entry a notation of the nature and date of the correction (Section 486.705.4).
• Signature by mark: The statutory notation below the mark names the two witnesses and their addresses (Section 486.645.2). Recording the same information in the journal entry is a sensible practice.

A Model Entry

Entry No. 87        Date/Time: 10/14/2026  2:35 p.m.
Act: Jurat          Document: Affidavit of identity, 1 page
Principal: Ana Ruiz, 12 Elm St., Columbia, MO 65201
Signature of principal: [Ana Ruiz signs here]
ID: MO driver license, Missouri Dept. of Revenue,
    No. R123456789, exp. 03/2029
Fee: $5.00
Place (if not regular office): N/A

Simplified Handbook List

The handbook's "Journal" page summarizes the entry as: date and time; type of notarization; type of document; name and address of the signer; identification used; the notary fee; and the signature of the signer. On the exam, use the full statutory list above. Requester of fact, credible witness details, and the place of the act are statutory items the short list leaves out.

Electronic Journal Entries

Electronic and remote online notaries record the same items in the electronic journal, plus:

• the name of any authority issuing or registering the means used to create the electronic signature that was notarized, and the source of that authority's license (Sections 486.947.1(9) and 486.1185.1(9)); and
• optionally, as evidence of identity in an electronic journal, a recognized biometric identifier (Sections 486.947.1(6)(d) and 486.1185.1(6)(d)).

For remote online acts, the principal's and credible witnesses' electronic signatures replace handwritten ones (Section 486.1185.1(4)). The same ban on Social Security and credit card numbers applies (Sections 486.947.2 and 486.1185.2).

Absentee Ballot Envelopes

The handbook's absentee ballot steps include logging the information in the journal and having the voter sign the journal, even though no fee may be charged. The fee entry for that act is zero.

Exam Scenarios

• End-of-day logging. A busy notary stamps ten documents and plans to fill in the journal after closing. Entries must be made at the time of notarization, with each principal signing.
• Mobile signing. A notary notarizes at a client's home. The home address must be recorded because the act was not at the notary's regular place of work or business.
• Helpful but illegal. A signer offers a Social Security number "for extra verification." The notary must not record it.