Does Michigan Require a Notary Journal? No — Here's What to Keep (2026)
No. The Michigan Law on Notarial Acts contains no journal requirement for traditional, in-person notarizations. Michigan leaves record keeping entirely to the notary's judgment.
Last updated: August 2026.
What Michigan law covers instead
The Michigan Law on Notarial Acts (MCL 55.261 through 55.315) governs commissions, conduct, fees, and electronic notarization. Electronic and remote notarizations carry their own record rules under the statute. For paper notarizations, the statute is silent: no required journal, no required format, no retention period.
The case for keeping one anyway
Michigan notaries handle powers of attorney, estate documents, vehicle titles, and real estate paperwork, the exact documents that surface in disputes years later. When they do, the question is always the same: did this person appear before you, and how did you know who they were? A journal entry with the date, the ID details, and the signer's own signature answers it. Without one, the answer is whatever you can remember about one signing among hundreds.
What format works in Michigan
Whatever you will actually maintain: a bound book, printed pages filed in order, or an electronic record. Consistency matters more than form. Record every act with the date, time, document, signer, identification, and fee, and keep the records where you can find them.
Questions Michigan notaries ask
Do Michigan signing agents need a journal for loan signings? Not by law. The journal is your own record. Michigan sets no rules for who may see a voluntary record; in a dispute it can be subpoenaed like any business record, and the notary who kept one has evidence.
Should signers sign my Michigan journal? Nothing requires it. A signature in your record is direct evidence the person appeared, which is the fact most often disputed later.
Does remote notarization change anything? Remote acts have their own record rules. Your in-person work is yours to document.
The record without the handwriting
Prep & Print Notary Journal fills in the entry on screen before the signing, prints it for ink signatures at the table, and keeps the saved entry in your browser on your own computer. It costs $19 once, at prepandprintnotary.com.
Every state's rule is on one page: Notary Journal Requirements by State.
Sources: Michigan Law on Notarial Acts, MCL 55.261 to 55.315. General information, not legal advice.
