Notary and records questions, answered

Florida has authorized remote online notarization since January 1, 2020 under Chapter 117, Part II, Florida Statutes. The notary must be physically located in Florida. The signer does not have to be.

1. Book the session. Send an online request with the PDF and each signer's email.
2. Send the document. Some documents may be signed before an acknowledgment; documents requiring an oath or jurat must be signed in the notary's presence.
3. Verify identity. Each signer shows a government-issued ID on camera and completes credential analysis and knowledge-based authentication (§117.265, F.S.).
4. Connect by video. Two-way audio-video meeting Chapter 117, Part II, and Department of State rules.
5. Complete the act. The notarial act is performed while the session is live and recorded.
6. Receive the record. You get the document with its electronic seal, certificate, and audit trail.

$40 for one notarial act: the $25 online notarial fee, which is the most Florida allows per act (§117.275, F.S.), plus a $15 platform fee for identity proofing, the recorded session, and the platform. Each additional act in the same session is $25. There is no travel charge.

No. The notary must be physically located in Florida; the signer does not. Where a signer is outside Florida, §117.265(3), F.S. requires confirmation on the record that the signer wants a Florida notary to perform the act under Florida law.

Each signer presents a government-issued ID that is current, or was issued within the past five years, and carries a serial or other identifying number (§117.05(5)(b)2, F.S.). Accepted IDs include:

• A Florida driver license or identification card
• A U.S. passport, or a foreign passport stamped by U.S. immigration authorities
• A driver license or ID card from another state, a U.S. territory, Canada, or Mexico
• A U.S. armed forces ID card or a VA veteran health identification card

Online signers also complete credential analysis and knowledge-based authentication. Signers without a U.S. credit history may not be able to answer the identity questions, so tell us on the request form.

Not necessarily, and nobody honest will promise that. Acceptance depends on the receiving party, the document type, and the jurisdiction. Title companies, lenders, courts, foreign governments, and county recorders each set their own requirements. Confirm acceptance with the receiving party before you book.

Florida law requires an electronic journal and an audio-video recording for every remote online notarization, retained at least ten years (§117.245, F.S.). For in-person appointments we keep records as an identity-verification practice; no audio-video recording is made.

Yes. A witness may be with you or appear remotely in the same session (§117.285, F.S.). A remote witness must be a U.S. resident located in the United States. For wills, certain trusts, health care advance directives, and powers of attorney with banking or investment powers, the platform asks screening questions; if the signer is a vulnerable adult, the witnesses must be physically present with the signer.

Yes. A PDF signed through remote online notarization can be eRecorded without ever being printed. After the session, send a records request, choose Electronic PDF, and upload the completed file.

No, unless the document uses an acknowledgment certificate and we confirm that a previously signed document is acceptable. Documents requiring an oath or jurat must be signed in the notary's presence. Upload the document with your request and you will get a straight answer on which applies.

A commissioned Florida notary comes to your home, office, hospital room, assisted living facility, or nursing home within 20 miles of Sanford at a scheduled time. Before we travel, we check documents you upload for blank spaces, identification requirements, certificate availability, and signing instructions. Check your ZIP code.

Florida caps the notarial fee at $10 for each notarial act (§117.05(2)(a), F.S.). One acknowledgment, oath, jurat, or attested copy is one act, so two signers on one document is two acts. Travel is a flat round trip by county: $72 in Seminole, $94 in Orange, $110 in Lake, and $175 in Volusia. Rush and after-hours charges apply only when the time triggers them.

Yes. These are the calls that cannot wait until Monday. Most facilities require advance notice, so call before you schedule so the visit can be cleared with staff.

The signer must be alert, able to communicate their own intent, and able to sign or direct a signature. If they are not, the act cannot lawfully be performed, and you will be told that on the phone rather than charged for a trip that cannot be completed.

Some documents do. Many Florida deeds, wills, and powers of attorney require two witnesses. Whether yours does is a question for whoever prepared it or for your attorney. Bring your own witnesses, or ask us to arrange them and we will quote the cost before booking. Witnesses cannot be named in or benefit from the document.

Yes, in person. Florida notaries may solemnize marriages (§117.045, F.S.). The fee is $30 plus county travel. Bring the marriage license issued by a Florida county clerk. Florida law does not permit solemnizing a marriage by remote online notarization.

No. We review documents for blank spaces, identification requirements, certificate availability, signing instructions, and appointment logistics. We do not provide legal advice, select legal forms, choose which notary certificate your document needs, prepare or complete documents, or decide whether a document is legally sufficient. Those are questions for a licensed Florida attorney.

eRecording is submitting a signed document to a county's Official Records electronically instead of at the counter. Florida authorizes it under §695.27, F.S. Most eRecording vendors only open accounts for title companies, lenders, and other high-volume filers. We submit single documents for individuals, small businesses, and law firms, so you do not need an account of your own.

Electronic PDF is for documents signed and notarized electronically, such as by remote online notarization. Upload the completed PDF exactly as the platform delivered it. Do not print, rescan, or edit it; changing the file can invalidate its electronic seal. The PDF is not returned. When the county records it, the recorded image, instrument number, and county receipt are emailed to the requesting party.

Paper original is for documents signed in ink. Your confirmation email says where to send the original. We log it in, scan it at 300 dpi, submit it, and return it by pickup, tracked mail, or retained custody, as you choose.

They are held by different offices under different rules. Court files live with the Clerk of the Circuit Court at 101 Eslinger Way in Sanford and are identified by case number and docket entry. Official Records, such as deeds, mortgages, liens, and satisfactions, live in the recorded-instrument index at 1750 E. Lake Mary Boulevard and are identified by instrument number or book and page. Tell us which one you need and we confirm before running anything.

Only the counties and document types our live eRecording account supports. Each county sets its own accepted document types and requirements. Send the county and document type and you get a confirmed yes or no before any payment is collected.

You get the rejection reason exactly as the county stated it, without interpretation. If the rejection came from a data-entry error on our end, resubmission is free. If the document itself has a defect, correcting it is your decision and your counsel's, and a corrected instrument needs new instructions and a new charge.

Recording fees, documentary stamp and intangible tax, Clerk copy and certification charges, and postage are pass-through costs. They are itemized separately from our service fee, collected before work begins, and reconciled when the order closes. The county eRecording platform charge is included in our eRecording fee.

No. The pricing page shows each county's published rates, and the request form asks you for the amounts shown on your closing statement or calculated by your attorney or title agent. The county determines the tax due.

• Courthouse runs: Tuesday and Thursday mornings
• eRecording submissions: twice every business day
• Official Records requests: handled from the office
• Clerk counters close at 4:30 p.m. weekdays

The order enters the next available courthouse run or the next same-day submission window. It is not a dedicated trip, and it does not guarantee clerk processing, county acceptance, or recording time. A dedicated out-of-cycle trip is quoted in writing.

1. Intake. Request number assigned. Identity, exact document, office or county, delivery method, and deadline confirmed.
2. Feasibility. Public access, custodian location, county and document-type coverage, and estimated charges checked.
3. Authorization. Written instructions and prepaid funds received. Anything requiring legal judgment is declined.
4. Retrieval. Date, time, office, pages received, certification, and amount paid are logged.
5. Scan and QA. Every page scanned in order. Page count, legibility, certification page, and filename verified.
6. Submission. Filed from the office. Indexing entered exactly as instructed or as shown on the instrument.
7. Monitoring. Accepted, rejected, pending, or returned status tracked. Rejections reported without interpretation.
8. Closeout. Recorded image, instrument number, receipt, original-return status, and final reconciliation delivered.

This is an administrative retrieval and recording service. It is not a law practice and it is not a notarial act. We do not:

• Give legal advice, select remedies, or tell you which document to pull
• Draft, prepare, correct, or interpret legal instruments
• File through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal on your behalf
• Calculate documentary stamp or intangible tax, or decide whether an instrument should be recorded
• Promise that recording creates, perfects, renews, or preserves a lien
• Place a notary seal on a clerk-certified record
• Retrieve sealed, expunged, juvenile, or access-restricted material without verified authority and custodian approval

Gordon Adkins: twenty years in the Navy running tactical teams, then a Florida private investigator license alongside an active notary and remote online notary commission. Mobile Mark Notary is a d/b/a of ArcXet Group, Inc.

The private investigator license does not authorize legal services, document preparation, or any service beyond its scope, and is not offered here for those purposes.

Online notarization: signers anywhere, subject to Florida law and the receiving party's acceptance.

Mobile notary: within 20 miles of Sanford, Florida: all of Seminole County and nearby parts of Orange, Volusia, and Lake counties. See the service area.

eRecording: the Florida counties and document types our eRecording account supports, confirmed before payment.

Court records: the Seminole County Clerk on scheduled runs; other counties are quoted.

Standard hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Evening, weekend, and time-critical bedside appointments are available by request with the after-hours charge. Call 321-510-4411 for same-day availability.

Through a Square invoice emailed after we confirm your request, by card or bank transfer. Notary appointments are confirmed when the invoice is paid. Records work and government charges are paid before anything is retrieved or submitted. Nothing is charged when you send the request form.

• In person: full refund if you cancel 48 hours or more before the appointment. Inside 48 hours, notarial fees are refunded and travel and scheduling charges are kept.
• Online: full refund if you cancel before we set up the session on the platform and at least six hours before the start. After that, the $15 platform fee is kept; fees for acts not performed are refunded.
• Records: full refund before retrieval or submission begins. After that, the service fee is kept, and government charges are refunded only if they have not been paid.
• Rush and after-hours charges are not refundable once travel or the session begins.

Full terms are in the Terms of Service.

No. I am not an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Florida, and I may not give legal advice or accept fees for legal advice. Consult a licensed Florida attorney for legal matters.