Does Wisconsin Require a Notary Journal? Optional for Paper Acts (2026)
No, keeping one is your choice. Wisconsin adopted the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts as chapter 140 of the statutes and left the uniform act's journal section out entirely. The law is simply silent on journals: nothing requires one, and nothing says what one must look like.
Last updated: August 2026.
What chapter 140 says
Chapter 140 covers commissions, notarial acts, certificates, stamps, and remote notarization, and never mentions a journal. Wisconsin omitted the uniform act's journal section when it enacted the chapter, so there is no journal provision to comply with. Remote online notarizations run under their own sections of the chapter and the Department of Financial Institutions' rules and guidance.
The distinction matters if you have read about other states: in Washington or Pennsylvania the same uniform act arrived with a mandatory journal. Wisconsin left the journal out altogether.
The case for keeping one anyway
Optional does not mean pointless. A journal entry with the date, the document, the ID checked, and the signer's own signature is the difference between evidence and recollection when a notarization is questioned years later. The journal is your own record, and Wisconsin sets no inspection rules for a voluntary record. In a dispute it can be subpoenaed like any business record, and the notary who kept one has something to show.
What format works in Wisconsin
Any format, because the choice is yours: a bound book, printed pages kept in order, or an electronic record. If you keep one, keep it completely: every act, every signer, every ID, in order.
Questions Wisconsin notaries ask
Do Wisconsin signing agents need a journal for loan signings? Not by statute. Loan signings are also the acts most worth recording, because real estate documents are the ones that get questioned.
Does remote online notarization change anything? Remote acts run under chapter 140's remote provisions and the Department of Financial Institutions' rules and guidance. Your in-person work is yours to document.
Should signers sign my Wisconsin journal? Nothing requires it. A signature in your record is direct evidence the person appeared before you.
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: Wis. Stat. ch. 140 (notarial acts). General information, not legal advice.
