How to Become a Notary Public in Massachusetts: Application and Oath

To become a notary public in Massachusetts, you mail a paper application with four community endorsements to the Governor’s office through the Secretary of the Commonwealth, wait for the Governor and Governor’s Council to review it, then take an oath of office and pay a $60 fee. The commission lasts seven years from the appointment date.¹ Plan on several weeks between mailing the application and holding an active commission.

Who Can Apply

You must be at least 18 and either live in Massachusetts or work there regularly. U.S. citizenship is not required, but a verifiable residency or employment tie to the state is.

The Governor has discretion to deny any application. A criminal record is not an automatic bar, but the application requires you to disclose every conviction with the offense, date, and sentence attached in a written explanation.² You also have to disclose any professional license that has been suspended or revoked. The form carries a sworn statement: false information can be prosecuted as a separate offense and is grounds for later revocation.

What Goes in the Application

Download the application from Mass.gov, print it, and fill it out. There is no electronic submission option.³ You will need to provide:

Your full legal name, current address, date of birth, daytime phone, and current occupation and employer
Every address where you have lived in the past ten years
Disclosure of any convictions or license suspensions, with a written explanation attached if applicable
An up-to-date resume, stapled together with all pages of the application²
Signatures from four known and respected members of your community as endorsements³

Do not send money with the application. The $60 fee is paid later, after approval, and the notification letter you receive tells you how and where to pay it.²

Where to Send It

Mail the completed packet, stapled together with your resume, to:⁴

Notary Public Office
State House
24 Beacon St, Room 184
Boston, MA 02133-1058

The Governor and the Governor’s Council review the application, and the Secretary of the Commonwealth sends written notification of the outcome. If approved, that letter includes instructions for scheduling your oath and paying the $60 fee.³ The state does not publish a review timeline, so expect several weeks.

Taking the Oath of Office

Your commission is not active until you are sworn in. The Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office offers oath appointments in Boston, Springfield, and Fall River, and additional commissioners authorized to qualify public officers serve elsewhere around the state.⁵ You must call ahead. Walk-ins are not accepted.

Bring your official appointment letter. Once the oath is administered and you pay the $60 fee, you can begin performing notarial acts. The commission runs seven years unless you resign or it is revoked.¹

Getting Your Seal

Before you perform any acts, you need an official notarial seal. It is your exclusive property, and no one else may use it. You will need a new one whenever you renew, receive a new commission, or change your legal name. The seal must include:⁶

Your name exactly as it appears on the commission
The words “Notary Public” and “Commonwealth of Massachusetts” or “Massachusetts”
Your commission expiration, in the format “My commission expires ___”
A facsimile of the state seal

Ink stamps must use black ink.⁶ A digital seal is allowed for electronic notarizations and must carry the same elements plus the words “Electronically affixed.” When your commission ends, you have to destroy or deface every seal and stamp so none can be reused.⁷

Keeping a Journal

Massachusetts law requires a chronological journal of every notarial act. A paper journal has to be permanently bound with numbered pages; loose-leaf binders do not qualify. Electronic journals are allowed if they use a tamper-evident format that complies with the Secretary’s rules.⁸

For each act, record at the time of notarization:

The date, time, and type of act
A description of the document
The signature, printed name, and address of each signer
How you identified the signer, including the type of ID, issuing agency, ID number, and expiration date
Any fee charged
The address where the notarization took place

Do not record a signer’s Social Security or credit card number. If a signer says they are a victim of domestic violence, note in the journal that their address is not subject to public inspection instead of leaving it blank.⁸ Keep only one active journal at a time, notify the Secretary if it is lost or stolen, and hold onto your journal and records for seven years after your commission ends.⁷

A few acts are exempt from the journal requirement: witnessing absentee ballots, and signatures on estate administration and real estate closing documents.⁸ Attorneys and legal staff performing acts as part of their employment have broader exemptions.

Renewing After Seven Years

The commission does not renew on its own. About five weeks before your expiration date, the Secretary of the Commonwealth mails you a renewal application. There is no online version; you have to wait for the paper form.⁹

This is where commissions accidentally lapse. If you have moved or changed your name, the renewal form goes to your old address. You are required to notify the Secretary within ten days of any name or address change, and to include your current expiration date when you do.⁹ Miss the renewal window and you start over: new application, new endorsements, new oath.

One boundary worth flagging before you plan a business around it. Massachusetts authorized remote online notarization in 2023, but the program is not yet operational, and the Secretary’s office has said notaries should not use online remote platforms until the required training and notification form are available.¹⁰ Until then, notarial acts happen in person.

1
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 222 Section 14
2
Mass.gov. Notary Public Application
3
Mass.gov. Apply to Become a Notary Public
4
Mass.gov. Questions About Notaries Public
5
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Commissions – Section: Notary Oath Appointment Information
6
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 222 Section 8
7
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 222 Section 24 – Destruction of Notary Seals and Stamps Upon Expiration, Resignation or Revocation of Commission; Retention of Journal and Records
8
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 222 Section 22
9
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Notary Renewal
10
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Remote Online Notarization