4.2 Notary Seal Requirements

A Seal Is Now Mandatory

For most of its history New Jersey did not require a notary stamp. That changed with the Notary Public Act (P.L. 2021, c. 179), effective October 22, 2021. Now an official seal is required on every notarization of a tangible (paper) record. If you took an older course, unlearn the idea that the seal is optional — on the current exam, the seal is mandatory.

The seal authenticates the act and lets a county clerk, recorder, or court confirm that a commissioned New Jersey notary performed the notarization.

Which Seal Types Are Allowed

This is the highest-stakes correction to remember. New Jersey allows either a rubber ink stamp or an embossing seal. A notary does not have to own both, and the embosser is not banned.

Because an embossed (raised, colorless) impression can disappear on a photocopy or scan, many notaries who use an embosser also ink it or add a rubber stamp so the seal reproduces. The law's controlling rule is reproducibility, discussed below.

Required Seal Information

Whatever form you use, the seal must clearly contain three items:

A frequent wrong answer adds items that are NOT required, such as a commission number, a county, or the notary's address. The three elements above are what the statute requires.

Example Seal Layout

+------------------------------------+
|          JOHN A. SMITH             |
|  Notary Public, State of New Jersey |
|  My Commission Expires:            |
|        March 15, 2029              |
+------------------------------------+

Reproducibility Rule

The seal must be capable of being copied together with the record to which it is affixed. In practice the impression must be:

• Clear and fully legible (all three required items readable)
• Dark/complete enough to survive a photocopy or scan
• Not smudged, doubled, or cut off at an edge

If an impression is faint or partly off the page, re-apply it in a clear space rather than tracing or filling it in by hand.

Placement

Apply the seal only after the act is finished and the certificate is signed. Pre-stamping blank paper or signing/sealing before the signer appears creates a false certificate.

Seal Security

The seal is exclusively the notary's responsibility, and that responsibility does not transfer.

If the Seal Is Lost or Stolen

1. Stop using that seal immediately.
2. Notify the Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services (DORES), the office within the Department of the Treasury that administers New Jersey notaries.
3. Obtain a replacement seal.
4. Keep a written record of the loss and the date.

Electronic Notarization and the Seal

The 2021 Act also authorized electronic notarization. For electronic records the notary uses an electronic version of the seal containing the same three required items (name, the title "Notary Public, State of New Jersey," and expiration date), attached so it is logically associated with the electronic document and tamper-evident. A notary must register the capability before notarizing electronically. The exam may contrast tangible seals (stamped or embossed on paper) with electronic seals (attached to a digital record), but the required contents are identical.

When the Commission Ends

A commission runs for five years. When it expires (or if you resign or are removed), you must stop notarizing, and you should destroy or disable the seal so it cannot be misused. You may obtain a new seal only after you are re-commissioned, and the new seal must carry the new expiration date. Using a seal that shows an expired date, or notarizing after expiration, is a serious violation even if the notary intends to renew.

Quick Contrast: Seal vs. Signature

Students sometimes confuse the seal with the signature requirement. They are separate, and both are mandatory.

On the Exam

Expect 2-3 questions on seals. Lock in: a seal is required on every paper notarization since 2021; New Jersey accepts EITHER a rubber stamp OR an embosser (do not pick "rubber stamp only"); required contents are name, the title "Notary Public, State of New Jersey," and the expiration date; the impression must be photographically reproducible; place it near (not over) the signature; never lend or pre-stamp; and report any loss to DORES.