Producing Copies of Notarial Records, Florida
Florida Notaries -- Producing Copies of Notarial RecordsPublished March 7, 2024
While a notary's records of notarial acts belong solely to the notary (even when the notary notarizes on behalf of an employer), the notary will occasionally receive requests for copies of particular records for business, personal or official purposes.
Neither Florida law nor its administrative rules address a notary providing copies of notarial records to requesting parties. American Society of Notaries offers the following guidelines.
• Respond to all reasonable records requests. Certainly, a reasonable request for a copy of a recordbook entry involving a particular transaction would be from anyone who asked you to perform the related notarization, or who is relying on the effects of the notarized record.
• Other parties for whom you should produce any requested recordbook entry without question include law enforcement in the course of an investigation, the Office of the Governor, or the Secretary of State's office.
• Carefully weigh requests from any other parties. Notaries are occasionally victimized by "phishing" attempts, in which persons request recordbook entries but are intentionally vague (they are trying to obtain any entry or entries you offer) or ask to inspect your recordbook for their own personal gain or illegal purpose. If ever in doubt, it's safer to at least delay fulfilling the request while you ask the Governor's Notary Section for input.
American Society of Notaries offers the following recommendations for fulfilling recordbook entry copy requests:
1. Copy ONLY the entry or entries requested, never an entire recordbook page with other customers' private information.
2. Keep a log of all fulfilled records requests, containing information such as the name and address of the requesting party, the party's phone number, the entry number(s) of the record(s) copied and given to the requester, the date that you satisfied the request, and how you sent the record(s) to the requesting party (U.S. Mail or electronically).
3. Safely store your log as you store your recordbook(s)--securely, in a place or in a way that only you can access.
Questions, contact ASN 850-671-5464 | support@asnnotary.org
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