Utah Notary Journal Requirements — Mandatory From May 2026 (S.B. 139)
Yes, on a phase-in. Utah's S.B. 139, the Notary Amendments passed in the 2026 session, makes the journal mandatory, and the Lieutenant Governor's notary office explains the rollout: notaries commissioned or renewing on or after May 6, 2026 must keep a journal. A notary holding a current commission is not required to keep one until that commission renews after the effective date.
Recommended reading of that timeline: start the journal now rather than waiting for your renewal, since the record protects you either way. The requirement arrives with each commission as it turns over, with one set of exceptions: a notary employed by an attorney, a law firm, or a title agency is not required to keep a journal for acts within that employment, and those records belong to the employer (Utah Code § 46-1-13(4)).
Last updated: August 2026.
What format qualifies in Utah
Utah Code § 46-1-13 describes the official journal: chronological, permanently bound, containing numbered pages. A notary commissioned or renewed on or after May 6, 2026 keeps a physical journal of each in-person act in a secure location, plus a secure electronic journal for any remote notarizations (§ 46-1-13(2)). Loose printed pages are not a permanently bound journal.
What each Utah entry should include
Section 46-1-14 lists the entries: the date and time of the act, the type of act, the type, title, or description of the document, the signature and printed name and address of each individual for whom the act is performed, the evidence of identity, and the fee. When an identification document is used, the entry describes it along with its issuing agency, serial or identification number, and date of issuance or expiration. Note the contrast with states like Texas: Utah's statute puts the ID number in the journal, and the signer's signature with it.
Retention and destruction
A journal is retained for ten years after its last entry, whether or not the notary remains commissioned. After those ten years the statute requires destroying it: shredding for paper, and for electronic journals an erasure that renders the data irretrievable, backups included (§ 46-1-13(3)).
What Utah notaries should buy
A bound journal with numbered pages from any notary supplier, or a compliant electronic journal. One register at a time holds every act until it fills; numbered pages are what make an old entry findable.
Questions Utah notaries ask
My commission runs until 2028. Do I need a journal now? Not until you renew after May 6, 2026. Keeping one before then is the recommended head start, since the duty arrives with your next commission.
Can I keep my Utah journal electronically? Utah law provides for electronic journals alongside bound paper ones. Loose printed pages are neither.
Where do I check the current Utah rules? The Lieutenant Governor's notary office at notary.utah.gov publishes S.B. 139 updates and guidance, and it is the authority on the rollout.
The honest note from us
Prep & Print Notary Journal sells a $19 app that prints filled-in journal pages, and printed pages do not satisfy Utah's bound-register format. If you are commissioned in a state that leaves the journal format to you, the app is at prepandprintnotary.com. Utah notaries: 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.
Sources: Utah S.B. 139 guidance, Lieutenant Governor's notary office; Utah Code § 46-1-13 and § 46-1-14 (effective May 6, 2026). General information, not legal advice.
