Does Florida Require a Notary Journal? No — Here's Why to Keep One Anyway (2026)
No. Florida law does not require a journal for traditional, in-person notarizations. No statute tells a Florida notary to keep one, and no statute says what one must look like. The exception is remote online notarization, which has its own electronic journal requirement under section 117.245.
Last updated: August 2026.
What Florida actually says
Chapter 117 of the Florida Statutes, which governs notaries, contains no journal requirement for paper notarizations. The Governor's Reference Manual for Notaries, the state's official guidance, puts it this way: "you may consider keeping a notary journal," and "any notary who is concerned with liability may want to consider this protective measure to provide a permanent record of his or her notarial acts."
For remote online notarization, section 117.245 requires an electronic journal of each online notarization, kept under that section's own rules.
Why Florida notaries keep journals anyway
A journal answers questions years later that memory cannot. Who signed, what ID they showed, whether they appeared willing, what was notarized, and what was charged. If a signing ends up in a dispute, a lawsuit, or a fraud investigation, the notary with a record has evidence. The notary without one has recollection.
The journal is your own record, and that is the point. Nobody collects it from you. If a notarization ever ends up in a lawsuit or a fraud investigation, a court can order your records into evidence. The notary who kept a journal has something to show. That is the day the journal was for.
What format works in Florida
Any format. Because no statute constrains it, Florida notaries use bound books, printed pages in a binder, spreadsheets, and electronic records. Whatever you keep, keep it consistently: every signing, every signer, every ID, in order.
Questions Florida notaries ask
Is a journal required for loan signings in Florida? Not by Florida law. The journal is your own record. Florida sets no rules for who may see a voluntary record; in a dispute it can be subpoenaed like any business record.
Should signers sign or thumbprint my Florida journal? Nothing requires it, and both strengthen the record. A signature and a thumbprint in your journal are hard evidence the person appeared before you.
Does my RON journal cover my in-person work? No. The electronic journal under section 117.245 covers online notarizations. In-person signings are yours to record.
Built in Florida, for this exact situation
Prep & Print Notary Journal was built by a working Florida notary. Fill in the signing on screen before you leave, print it, and collect signatures and thumbprints in ink at the table. Entries stay in your browser on your own computer, and the printed page goes in your binder as the record. It costs $19 once, at prepandprintnotary.com.
Every state's rule is on one page: Notary Journal Requirements by State.
Sources: Fla. Stat. ch. 117; Governor's Reference Manual for Notaries; Fla. Stat. § 117.245 (online notarization journal). General information, not legal advice.
