My mom asked me to notarize a form, a friend from college wants me to notarize her legal proceedings, I need to notarize a form for myself, are these transactions allowed? Many notaries are confused about if they are able to notarize forms for their relatives or if they are beneficiaries. Florida says no. Florida likes their notaries to be impartial to the information they are notarizing.

• You cannot notarize your own signature.
• Florida law denotes you cannot notarize for certain family members: spouse, son, daughter, mother, or father. Even though the law only has certain family members, many authorities say do NOT notarize for any family members. Once again, you may compromise your role as an impartial witness.
• If you have financial interest in a transaction you may NOT notarize any forms pertaining to it.

The key to any of these transactions is the notary’s role as an impartial witness. It is a critical part of our jobs to not hinder the notarization process in any way. If you get confused just think back to that, or refer to our Notary FAQ page. As always, if you would like to ask notary questions, feel free to contact our Customer Care team who is always on hand to assist you 800-821-0821.