Notary Services

Per MGL Ch. 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.

The Belmont Town Clerk’s office provides Notary Public services as a courtesy. Residents seeking services of the Notary Public should call the Town Clerk’s office to make an appointment prior to their visit to ensure that the Notary is available and the document meets the requirements articulated below.

The document must contain the appropriate Massachusetts Notarial Statement or Clause, a sample of which can be found below:

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 and 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 a witness. 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, MGL ch. 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.