Florida Notary Acknowledgment Requirements and Wording: Short-Form and RON

A Florida notary acknowledgment uses the short-form wording set out in Section 117.05(4) of the Florida Statutes: a venue line, a sentence stating that the instrument was acknowledged before the notary by either physical presence or online notarization on a given date by a named signer, and lines showing whether the signer was personally known or produced identification. Since January 2020, every certificate must indicate which method of appearance was used.

What the Certificate Must Contain

Whatever template you work from, a valid Florida acknowledgment certificate carries six pieces of information:

Venue — the state and county where the notary is physically located, written as “State of Florida, County of ____.”
The type of notarial act, shown by the word “acknowledged” (as opposed to “sworn,” which signals a jurat).
The method of appearance, shown by a checkbox or statement indicating physical presence or online notarization.
The exact date the act was performed.
The full name of the person whose signature is being acknowledged.
The identification method — personal knowledge or a specific type of ID document.

Leaving any of these blank can make the notarization defective, and title companies routinely reject documents at closing for exactly that reason.

Short-Form Wording for an Individual Signer

Florida law provides template language that satisfies the statute. The certificate does not have to use these words letter-for-letter, but it must be “in substantially the same form.”¹ When a person signs on their own behalf, the statutory form reads:

STATE OF FLORIDA
COUNTY OF ____

The foregoing instrument was acknowledged before me by means of [ ] physical presence or [ ] online notarization, this ____ day of ____, (year), by (name of person acknowledging).

(Signature of Notary Public – State of Florida)
(Print, Type, or Stamp Commissioned Name of Notary Public)
Personally Known ____ OR Produced Identification ____
Type of Identification Produced ____

Short-Form Wording for a Representative Capacity

When the signer is acting for someone else — a corporate officer signing for a company, a trustee signing for a trust, an agent signing under a power of attorney — the certificate adds language naming the role and the party represented:

STATE OF FLORIDA
COUNTY OF ____

The foregoing instrument was acknowledged before me by means of [ ] physical presence or [ ] online notarization, this ____ day of ____, (year), by (name of person) as (type of authority, e.g., officer, trustee, attorney in fact) for (name of party on behalf of whom instrument was executed).

(Signature of Notary Public – State of Florida)
(Print, Type, or Stamp Commissioned Name of Notary Public)
Personally Known ____ OR Produced Identification ____
Type of Identification Produced ____

The notary still verifies the identity of the human being who actually signs, not the entity being represented.¹

Filling In the Blanks

The notary completes every blank in the certificate, checks one of the two appearance boxes, and handles the identification lines based on how the signer was identified. If the notary personally knows the signer, check “Personally Known” and leave the “Type of Identification Produced” line blank. If the notary relied on an ID document, check “Produced Identification” and write the specific document on the line below (for example, “Florida driver license”).¹

Personal knowledge means an acquaintance sufficient to establish identity with reasonable certainty. When the notary does not personally know the signer, the ID presented must be current or have been issued within the past five years and must bear a serial or identifying number. The statute lists ten acceptable forms:

Florida driver license or ID card
U.S. passport
Foreign passport stamped by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Driver license or ID card from another U.S. state, a U.S. territory, Canada, or Mexico
U.S. armed forces ID card
Veteran health identification card from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Florida Department of Corrections inmate ID issued on or after January 1, 1991
Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate ID
Sworn written statement from a law enforcement officer confirming an inmate’s identity when IDs were confiscated upon confinement
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ID card²

If the signer has none of these, Florida allows credible-witness identification: one witness personally known to the notary, or two witnesses whose identities are proven to the notary through acceptable ID. The witnesses sign a sworn written statement that the signer is who they claim to be, that the witnesses personally know the signer, and that the signer does not possess any of the listed documents. Credible witnesses cannot have a financial interest in the transaction or be parties to it.¹

Wording for Remote Online Notarization

The acknowledgment language is the same for an online session, with the “online notarization” box checked instead of “physical presence.” The electronic certificate must also carry a notation that the act was performed online; placing the words “online notary” in or next to the seal satisfies this.³

Online notarizations layer additional identity steps on top of the standard certificate: remote presentation of a government-issued ID, credential analysis of that ID, and identity proofing through knowledge-based authentication or an equivalent method. The audio-video session is recorded, and the notary keeps a secure electronic journal entry for each act showing the date and time, the type of notarial act, a description of the document, the signer’s name and address, how identity was verified, and the fee charged. Both the journal and the recordings are kept for at least ten years.³⁴

Seal and Signature Below the Certificate

After filling out the certificate, the notary signs and applies the official seal. The seal must be a rubber stamp applied in photographically reproducible black ink. An embossed impression can be added but cannot stand in for the stamp. The stamp has to show four things:

The words “Notary Public-State of Florida”
The notary’s name
The notary’s commission number
The commission expiration date

Directly below the signature, the notary also prints, types, or stamps their commissioned name. That is a separate requirement from the stamp itself. The seal and commission certificate belong to the notary personally and stay under the notary’s direct control; an employer cannot keep them, even if the employer paid for them.¹

Acknowledgment or Jurat

One boundary worth checking before you use acknowledgment wording at all: Florida notaries perform two different acts, and the certificates are not interchangeable. An acknowledgment confirms that the signer appeared, was identified, and signed willingly. A jurat (a “verification upon oath or affirmation”) requires the signer to swear or affirm that the contents of the document are true, and the certificate uses “sworn” instead of “acknowledged.” Deeds, powers of attorney, and most recorded instruments typically take an acknowledgment; affidavits and sworn statements take a jurat. If the document itself does not say which to use, that is a question for the drafter or an attorney, not for the notary.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 117.05 – Use of Notary Commission
2
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 117 Section 05
3
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 117.265 – Online Notarizations
4
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 117.245 – Electronic Journal of Online Notarizations