Notary Service

MGL. Ch. 222, Sec. 15: (a) A notary public may perform the following notarial acts: (i) acknowledgments; (ii) oaths and affirmations; (iii) jurats; (iv) signature witnessing's; (v) copy certifications; (vi) issuing summonses for witnesses pursuant to section 1 of chapter 233; (vii) issuing subpoenas; and (viii) witnessing the opening of a bank safe, vault or box pursuant to section 32 of chapter 167.

Appointment Required for Notary Services

The Belmont Town Clerk's office provides Notary Public services as a courtesy for Belmont Residents by appointment only, typically at 9 AM or 3 PM, Monday to Thursday. To make an appointment, please call (617) 993-2603.

Notary appointments may not be available due to Annual or Special Town Meetings or Elections.

Notarization Restrictions

Per Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 222, documents for a real estate closing must be notarized by a Notary Public in an attorney's office; the Belmont Town Clerk's office Notary Public will not notarize any real estate closing documents.

Notary Service is not available for deeds, mortgages, wills, living wills, living trusts, codicils, depositions, or incomplete documents.

Many documents contain the notary language; for those documents that do not, the signer should add the MA notary language on/with the document. The most common form, an acknowledgement of the signer’s identity follows:

On this ____day of _____________________, before me, the undersigned notary public, personally appeared _______________________________________ proved to me through satisfactory evidence of identification, which were ______________________________, to be the person whose name is signed on the preceding or attached document and acknowledged to me that he signed it voluntarily for its stated purpose.

_____________________________________________

Notary Public Signature

My Commission expires _____________________

Requirements for the Document & Signer

  • A valid, unexpired government-issued photo identification is required for every request for notarization.
  • The signature field on the document must be blank if the signature is to be witnessed/attested by the Notary Public.
  • All individuals who will sign the document must be present at the time of notarizing.
  • If a separate witness to the signing is required, the person requesting the notarization must provide the witness; members of the office staff will not serve as witnesses. The required witness must be present at the time of signing and must also provide valid, unexpired, government-issued photo identification
  • Massachusetts laws require that a Notary Public and the person seeking notarization be able to communicate directly with each other, not through a third party. Only documents written in English will be notarized by the Belmont Town Clerk serving as Notary Public.
  • In accordance with Massachusetts Notarial Law, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 222, a Notary Public will not provide service if the customer, document, or circumstances of the request for Notary service raise any issue of authenticity, ambiguity, doubt, or uncertainty. In this event, the Notary may, at his/her sole discretion, decline to provide Notary Services.

Certain documents, like birth, marriage, and death certificates cannot be copied and notarized.