Does Maine Require a Notary Journal?

No for paper work, yes for electronic and remote work. Maine modernized its notary law in 2023 with a version of the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts: a Maine notary may keep a journal for tangible notarizations, and shall keep one for all electronic and remote notarizations. Maine also sets the format for any journal you do keep.

Last updated: August 2026.

What Maine law covers

Maine's notarial acts law (4 M.R.S. chapter 39) governs commissions, conduct, and notarial acts, administered through the Secretary of State. Section 1920 draws the line directly: "A notarial officer may maintain a journal for all tangible notarizations" and "shall maintain a journal for all electronic and remote notarizations." For in-person paper acts the choice is yours; for electronic and remote acts the journal is required.

The case for keeping one anyway

The question a journal answers arrives long after the signing: did this person appear before you, and how did you know who they were? An entry with the date, the document, the ID checked, and the signer's own signature answers it with evidence. The journal is your own record; Maine sets no rules for who may see a voluntary record, and in a dispute it can be subpoenaed like any business record.

What format works in Maine

Maine sets the format for any journal kept under its law. On paper, "it must be a permanent, bound register with numbered pages"; kept electronically, it must be in a permanent, tamper-evident format under the Secretary of State's rules (4 M.R.S. § 1920). A notary keeps only one journal at a time for tangible records, retains a journal for ten years after its last act, and on a notary's death the journal is transmitted to the Secretary of State or an approved repository. Loose printed pages are not a bound register.

Questions Maine notaries ask

Do Maine signing agents need a journal for loan signings? Not by statute. Real estate documents are also the ones most likely to be questioned later, which makes loan signings the acts most worth recording.

Does remote notarization change anything? Yes. Maine requires a journal for all electronic and remote notarizations (4 M.R.S. § 1920). For in-person paper work, keeping one remains your choice.

Should signers sign my Maine journal? Nothing requires it. A signature in your record is direct evidence the person appeared before you.

The honest note from us

Prep & Print Notary Journal sells a $19 app that prints filled-in journal pages, and a Maine journal kept on paper must be a permanent, bound register with numbered pages. Printed pages are not that. If you are commissioned in a state that leaves the journal format to you, the app is at prepandprintnotary.com. Maine notaries who keep a journal: buy the bound book or a compliant electronic journal.

Update, September 2026: we make a bound edition now. The Prep & Print bound journal is on Amazon — permanently bound, one signing per two-page spread, preprinted page and entry numbers, signature and thumbprint boxes, in five cover colors.

Every state's rule is on one page: Notary Journal Requirements by State.

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Sources: 4 M.R.S. § 1920 (journal); Maine Secretary of State notary FAQ. General information, not legal advice.