1.3 Special Rules for Attorney Notaries

Why Attorneys Get Special Treatment

Attorneys admitted to practice law in Ohio by the Ohio Supreme Court have already passed a character-and-fitness review and a bar examination, so Ohio Revised Code Chapter 147 grants them two specific exemptions in the notary process. The exam tests these as a precise pair — exempt from two things, still required to do three others. Mixing up the lists is the classic trap, so commit the matrix below to memory.

Exemptions vs. Requirements Matrix

Mnemonic: attorneys skip the check and the test, but never the course, fee, or oath.

Why the Course Still Applies

Law school rarely teaches the mechanics of notarization — journal/record-keeping, seal elements, signer identification, RON workflows, and the HB 315 changes effective April 4, 2025. The 3-hour course exists to teach an attorney the distinct role of a notary (an impartial witness to a signing) versus the role of an advocate. An attorney who is also a notary must keep those hats separate: notarizing does not create an attorney-client relationship, and the notary's impartiality cannot be compromised by representing a party to the document.

Indefinite Commission — With Strings

Unlike the 5-year non-attorney term, an attorney's notary commission continues indefinitely. But 'indefinite' is conditional. The commission survives only while the attorney:

• Maintains an active Ohio law license;
• Remains in good standing with the Ohio Supreme Court (not suspended or disbarred); and
• Continues to meet the residency rule — an Ohio resident, or a nonresident attorney with a principal Ohio office.

Worked example: an attorney whose license is suspended for one year does not get a one-year notary pause — the suspension breaks 'good standing,' and the commission is no longer valid for the duration of that lapse.

Loss of License Terminates the Commission

The relationship is automatic and immediate. If an attorney notary loses or is suspended from the Ohio law license:

• The notary commission is automatically terminated (it is derivative of the license);
• The attorney must stop all notarial activity at once;
• The seal should be destroyed to prevent misuse; and
• Any active RON authorization is also terminated, because RON sits on top of a valid commission.

RON Still Runs in 5-Year Terms

This is the section's sharpest distinction. Even though the underlying commission is indefinite, an attorney's remote online notarization (RON) authorization is not indefinite — it follows the standard RON rules.

So an attorney can hold a notary commission for decades without renewing it, yet must still renew RON every five years or lose the ability to notarize remotely.

Nonresident Attorneys, Precisely

A nonresident attorney qualifies only with a principal office located in Ohio — an actual primary place of practice, not a mailing address. A P.O. box is insufficient. If that Ohio office closes and the attorney has no Ohio residence, the residency basis for the commission disappears. Keep this consistent with Section 1.1: the principal-office path exists exclusively for attorneys; non-attorneys must be Ohio residents.

Attorney vs. Non-Attorney: Side-by-Side

The cleanest way to lock in this section is a direct comparison of the two tracks across the whole commissioning lifecycle:

Notice that the bottom rows diverge while the middle rows (course, fee, oath) are identical. That pattern — same gate-keeping steps for everyone, different term mechanics — is exactly what well-written exam questions probe.

Frequently Tested Misconceptions

• 'Attorneys are exempt from everything.' False — exempt only from the check and the test.
• 'Indefinite means no maintenance.' False — the commission lives only while the license does; suspension or disbarment ends it immediately.
• 'Indefinite commission means indefinite RON.' False — RON renews every 5 years regardless.
• 'Any out-of-state lawyer can be an Ohio notary.' False — they need Ohio admission and a principal Ohio office.

Practical Scenario

An Ohio attorney commissioned ten years ago has never renewed because the commission is indefinite — that is fine. But she enrolled in RON six years ago and never renewed the RON authorization. Today she may still notarize in person, yet she may not perform a remote online notarization, because her RON term lapsed at five years and requires the 1-hour refresher and $20 fee to reinstate. This single scenario captures the section's core lesson: the commission and the RON authorization run on separate clocks for attorneys.