Notary 101 : What does a Notary Public do?

The National Notary Association defines a notary public as, “an official of integrity appointed by state government —typically by the secretary of state — to serve the public as an impartial witness in performing a variety of official fraud-deterrent acts related to the signing of important documents.” These acts are called notarizations or notarial acts.

Notaries are also publicly commissioned, meaning they have a set of rules they need to abide by.