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REGISTER, COPIES OF RECORDS
Every notary public must not only keep but also maintain custody and control of an accurate chronological register of all his/her official acts and indicate each notarization separately, in addition to listing the date of the act, the character of the act, and the date and parties to the instrument, as well as the amount of fee collected for the service. (Section 15 of the NPL)
Each notarized document shall be indicated separately.
The purpose of the register, other than the fact that law requires it, is:
• To protect the notary.
• To help deter forgeries.
• To provide a public record of the transaction in the event of a future lawsuit regarding the transaction.(Most lawsuits regarding notarial acts occur years later and it makes it almost impossible to rely on memory alone to recall the details of transactions.)
When required, each notary public must give a certified copy of (from) the register in the notary’s office to any person requesting it. To make a certified copy of a record from the register a notary reproduces the page and attaches a certificate stating “this is a true and correct copy from my official register, showing that……….” The reproduction should be a photocopy of the entire page containing the entry in question. The notary may wish to cover up the other entries on the page to protect confidentiality of the other entries. The register and other public records of the notary public shall not be liable to be seized, attached or taken in execution for debt or for any demand whatsoever. (Section 15(b) of the NPL) A notary public register is the exclusive property of the notary public. No other person may use it and it may not be surrendered to an employer of a notary public upon termination of employment or the expiration of the notary's commission. (Section 15(c) of the NPL)
A notary public will have thirty (30) days to deliver, or cause to be delivered, his/her register to the office of the Recorder of Deeds of the proper county after his/her resignation, death or disqualification or upon the revocation or expiration of a commission (unless he applies for a new commission within thirty (30) days of the expiration of the prior commission). (Section 15(d) of the NPL)
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