‹ Back  |   Print

§29C-2-101. Appointment.
(a) Upon application under this chapter, the governor may appoint and commission persons as a notary public in this state.

(b) The governor may not appoint and commission as a notary public any person who submits an application containing substantial and material misstatement or omission of fact.

(c) The secretary of state shall administer the chapter and may issue rules and regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a, to make the chapter effective.

§29C-2-102. Jurisdiction and term.
Notaries may perform notarial acts in any part of this state for a term of ten years, unless sooner removed.

PART II. QUALIFYING.
§29C-2-201. Application.
Every applicant for appointment and commission as a notary public shall complete an application to be filed with the secretary of state stating:

(a) That he is a citizen of the United States, or if he is not a citizen of the United States, that he is a citizen or national of a country that permits American citizens to become notaries public therein;

(b) If he is a citizen of the United States, that he is a qualified elector of a state at the time of his application;

(c) That he is able to read and write English;

(d) The address of his business or residence in this state;

(e) His social security number, if he has one; and

(f) That during the past ten years his commission as a notary public has not been revoked.

§29C-2-202. Qualifying fee.
Every applicant for appointment and commission as a notary public shall pay to the secretary of state a fee of fifty dollars.

§29C-2-203. Applicant's endorsers.
Every applicant for appointment and commission as a notary public shall submit to the secretary of state endorsements from three qualified electors of this state, in the following form:

I, _____________________________ (name of endorser), a qualified elector of this state, believe to the best of my knowledge, the applicant is a person of good moral character and integrity and capable of performing notarial acts.

__________________________________

(Endorser's signature and address)

§29C-2-204. Applicant's oath.
Every applicant for appointment and commission as a notary public shall take the following oath in the presence of a person qualified to administer an oath in this state:

I, _______________________________ (name of applicant), solemnly swear or affirm, under the penalty of perjury, that the answers to all questions in this application are true, complete and correct; that I have carefully read the notaries public law of this State; and, if appointed and commissioned as a notary public, I will perform faithfully, to the best of my ability, all notarial acts in accordance with the law.

__________________________________

(Signature of applicant)

Subscribed and sworn or affirmed before me this _____ day of _______________, 19___. The undersigned notary public further certifies that ___________________________ (name of applicant), is known to me to be the applicant and elector who executed the within application for appointment and commission as a notary public and acknowledged to me that he or she executed the same for the purposes therein stated.

________________________________________________

(Official signature and official seal of notary)

§29C-2-205.

Repealed. Acts, 1985 Reg. Sess., Ch. 129.

§29C-2-206. Confidential application.
Information in the application for appointment, except for the applicant's name and address, is confidential and may not be disclosed by an official or employee having access to it to any person other than the applicant, his authorized representative, or an employee or officer of the federal government, the state government or a local agency, acting in his official capacity. Such information shall be used by the governor and secretary of state for the sole purpose of performing his duties under this chapter.

§29C-2-207. Specimen official signature.
Every applicant for appointment and commission as a notary public shall mail or deliver to the secretary of state a handwritten specimen of his official signature which contains his surname and at least the initial of his first name. The fee payable to the secretary of state for recording a specimen of the official signature is two dollars.

§29C-2-208. Application by persons holding existing commissions.
Persons holding notary commissions on the effective date of this chapter and having been appointed pursuant to former section two, article four, chapter twenty-nine of this code, shall continue upon their bonds as previously posted until the expiration of their respective notarial commissions.

PART III. GOVERNMENT NOTARIES.
§29C-2-301. State and local government employees.
(a) The governor may appoint and commission such number of state and local government employees as notaries public, to act for and in behalf of their respective state and local government offices, as he deems proper. An appointee commissioned as a notary public under this section may act only for and in behalf of the government office or offices in which he is employed.

(b) An appointee under this section shall meet the requirements for qualification and appointment prescribed in article two of this chapter except that the head of the state or local government office where the applicant is employed may execute a certificate that the application is made for the purposes of the office and in the public interest and submit it to the governor together with the application for appointment as a notary public, in which case the fee for appointment specified in article two, section two hundred two, is waived.

(c) The costs of all notary supplies for a commissioned state or local government employee shall be paid from funds available to the office in which he is employed.

(d) All fees received for notarial services by a notary public appointed for and in behalf of a state or local government office shall be remitted by him to the state or local government office in which he is employed.

(e) A notary public who is an employee of a state or local government office in this state must comply with all provisions of this chapter.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session