5.3 Seal and Stamp Requirements

The Inked Stamp Is the Only Required Tool

Under Nebraska Revised Statute Section 64-210, a notary must authenticate every official act with an official seal, and the Secretary of State is explicit that the only required supply for a Nebraska notary is the inked rubber stamp seal. Not a journal, not an embosser — the ink stamp. Without it you cannot lawfully complete a notarization, because the seal is what gives the certificate its authenticating force.

Mandatory elements of the seal

The statute fixes the content. Every Nebraska seal must display all of the following:

What is not required — and should not appear because it can confuse the public — includes a commission number, the notary's home address, or a phone number. A typical layout:

+---------------------------------+
|     STATE OF NEBRASKA           |
|     GENERAL NOTARY              |
|        JOHN A. SMITH            |
|  My Commission Expires 01/15/2030 |
+---------------------------------+

Why an Embosser Alone Fails

An embosser — the device that presses a raised, three-dimensional impression into paper — is permitted only as a supplement. It may never be the sole seal. The reason is reproducibility: a raised, ink-less impression often disappears when a document is photocopied, scanned, or faxed, leaving a recorded copy with no visible authentication. The inked stamp reproduces cleanly in every format, which is why Nebraska law requires it.

Some notaries keep an embosser purely as a deterrent on high-value paper documents, because a raised seal is hard to forge or alter and signals authenticity at a glance. That is fine — but the legal authentication on every document still comes from the inked stamp. If an examiner asks whether an embosser is required, the answer is no; if asked whether an embosser may stand alone, the answer is also no.

There is no specific size dimension fixed by statute, but the practical rule is legibility: the seal must reproduce clearly enough that anyone reading the document — or a photocopy of it — can identify the state, the notary, and the expiration date. A seal pressed too lightly, smeared, or stamped across the signer's signature defeats its purpose and can invalidate the act. Always test the stamp on scratch paper and place it in clear space beside the certificate.

The Seal Applies to Every Act

Because Section 64-210 requires authentication of all official acts, the seal goes on every notarization — there is no act exempt from it.

Care, Timing, and Common Mistakes

Order timing. Because the seal must print your exact expiration date, order it after the commission is approved. Ordering early risks an incorrect date, which makes every notarization done with it defective.

Security. The seal is personal to you. Never lend it; only the commissioned notary may apply it. Store it locked, report loss or theft to the Secretary of State, and destroy the old seal at expiration or upon resignation so it cannot be misused.

A seal must be legible on the finished document; a smudged or partial impression can call the whole notarization into question and may require a corrected, re-executed certificate.

Name changes deserve special care. The seal must show your name exactly as commissioned. If you legally change your name mid-commission, you cannot simply order a new stamp with the new name — you notify the Secretary of State, and a notary generally continues using the commissioned name until the change is properly recorded. Likewise, the moment your commission is renewed, the old seal's expiration date is wrong, so a renewed notary always orders a new stamp.

Keeping and using a stamp that displays an expired or incorrect date is one of the most common defects examiners flag, because it makes the certificate facially defective even when the act itself was proper.

Exam focus

• The inked stamp is the only required supply; an embosser alone is not acceptable.
• Required content: State of Nebraska, General Notary, commissioned name, expiration date.
• Every official act must be sealed.
• Destroy the seal at expiration or resignation to prevent misuse.