Electronic Notary in South Carolina: Seal, Journal, and Costs

An electronic notary in South Carolina is a commissioned notary public who has completed a separate registration with the Secretary of State to notarize digital documents using an electronic signature and seal. One detail trips up almost everyone: the signer still has to appear in person. South Carolina has not authorized remote online notarization, so the “electronic” part refers to the format of the document and the notary’s tools, not to a video call with the signer.

What “Electronic” Actually Means Here

Think of it as a traditional notarization performed on a laptop instead of a clipboard. The document lives in digital form, the notary applies an electronic signature and electronic seal, and the record is stored digitally. The signer must be physically present with the notary at the time of the act.

This distinction matters because other states allow signers to appear by audio-visual connection, often using knowledge-based authentication and recorded sessions. If you have read about those features, you were reading about another jurisdiction. South Carolina’s current framework does not include them.

How To Become an Electronic Notary in South Carolina

You must already hold a valid South Carolina notary public commission. Electronic registration is a second, separate process through the Secretary of State’s office, and the electronic registration runs alongside your traditional commission.¹ If your underlying commission expires or is revoked, your electronic registration ends with it.

Your application has to identify the technology you plan to use, and that technology must conform to any rules the Secretary of State has adopted.²

Before performing any electronic notarial acts, you must complete an approved course of instruction and pass an examination. The Secretary of State approves the course, which covers notarial laws, procedures, technology, and ethics. The statute does not set a minimum number of hours.²

The Electronic Seal

Your electronic seal can look like a digital image of a traditional seal, but it must contain five specific elements: your full name as it appears on your commission, the words “Notary Public,” “State of South Carolina,” your registration number, and your commission expiration date. Only you may generate the seal that bears your name and registration number, and it may not be used for anything other than electronic notarizations.²

The Electronic Journal

Every electronic notary must keep a secure electronic journal. Each entry records the date and time of the act, the type of act, the document title or description if any, the full name of each signer, how you identified the signer (personal knowledge or a description of the ID evidence and any credible witnesses), the location if different from your business address, a description of the electronic system used, and the fee charged if any. Social Security numbers must never appear in the journal.²

The journal must be protected against unauthorized access by password, biometric verification, token, or similar authentication.³ You cannot share it with another notary or surrender it to an employer when you leave a job. Law enforcement conducting an official investigation, courts issuing subpoenas, and the Secretary of State can all access and copy your records without restriction.⁴

A party to the transaction or anyone with a legitimate interest can ask to inspect specific entries by submitting a signed request that identifies the month, year, document type, and signer name. You can deny access if you have a reasonable belief that the requester has a criminal or inappropriate purpose.

Identifying the Signer

Because the signer appears in person, identity verification works the same way it does for a paper notarization. You can rely on personal knowledge, meaning familiarity built through enough interaction to remove any reasonable doubt about who the person is.⁵

If you don’t personally know the signer, satisfactory evidence means a current government-issued photo ID bearing the individual’s signature and physical description (a passport without a physical description counts), the oath of a credible witness you personally know, or two witnesses who each present qualifying government-issued identification.⁵

If the signer is not physically present, or if you cannot personally identify them and cannot obtain satisfactory evidence, you cannot perform the act. Skipping this step is one of the fastest ways to face discipline and to have the notarization thrown out later.

What You Can and Cannot Notarize Electronically

Electronic notarization is available for a broad range of documents, including affidavits, contracts, powers of attorney, and real estate closing documents, as long as the document exists in a digital format that supports electronic signatures and seals.

Two boundaries matter. Wills and trusts are excluded from the electronic notary chapter and still require traditional ink-on-paper notarization.² South Carolina’s version of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act reinforces this by excluding transactions governed by laws on the creation and execution of wills, codicils, and testamentary trusts.⁶ Electronic notarization also does not change the requirement that a licensed South Carolina attorney supervise any real estate closing. Documents destined for county recording, such as deeds and mortgages, may also need additional formatting to satisfy county requirements even when the notarization itself is valid.

What It Costs

South Carolina caps the fee at $10 per signature, no matter what type of notarial act is performed. The cap applies to acknowledgments, oaths and affirmations, attestations and jurats, signature witnessing, verifications of fact, and any other authorized act.⁷ A notary can also charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of providing copies of journal entries to authorized parties.

What Invalidates an Electronic Notarization

The most common failure is identity verification. If you did not personally know the signer and did not obtain satisfactory evidence, the notarization fails. Notarizing a document that falls outside the statute’s scope, especially a will or trust, has no legal effect under South Carolina law. An electronic seal missing any of the five required elements, gaps in the journal, a notary with a direct financial interest in the document, or a signer who was not physically present can each independently void the act.²

Penalties for Electronic Notaries

Improper electronic notarization carries the same liability as improper traditional notarization. The Secretary of State can also terminate your electronic registration for a material misstatement or omission in your application, a failure to maintain the capability to perform electronic acts, or official misconduct.² Written notice goes out by certified mail, and you have 30 days to appeal by filing with the South Carolina Administrative Law Court. Resigning or letting your commission expire does not stop an investigation.

Three categories of conduct carry criminal penalties: impersonating an electronic notary, tampering with the software, hardware, tokens, or certificates that produce registered signatures or seals, and coercing an electronic notary into misconduct. Each is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $5,000, imprisonment of up to one year, or both.² Those criminal penalties stack on top of, rather than replace, other remedies available under other laws.

1
Justia. South Carolina Code Title 26 Chapter 2 – Electronic Notaries Public
2
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 26-2 – Electronic Notaries Public
3
Legal Information Institute. South Carolina Code Regs. 113-480 – Electronic Notary Journal Preservation
4
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 26-2-90 – Creation and Maintenance of Electronic Journal for Electronic Notarial Acts
5
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 26 – Notaries Public and Acknowledgments
6
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 26 Chapter 6 – Uniform Electronic Transactions Act
7
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 26-2-70 – Fees for Electronic Notarial Acts