New Jersey requires every notary to maintain a single sequential journal of all notarial acts. One journal at a time, six required fields per entry, 10-year retention, and a 10-day window to report a lost or stolen journal. NotaryAct is state-configured for New Jersey — the right fields are enabled and compliance is built in automatically.
| ⚖️ New Jersey Notary Journal Law — Quick Reference | |
|---|---|
| Governing Law | P.L. 2021, c.179 · N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.18 (Journal) |
| Effective Date | October 22, 2021 |
| Journal Required? | Yes — every notarial act, tangible and electronic ✓ |
| Permitted Formats | Paper (permanent bound register, consecutively numbered lines and pages) · Electronic (permanent, tamper-evident) |
| Journals Active at One Time | One only — covers all act types (tangible and electronic) ✓ |
| Required Fields Per Entry | 6 fields (date/time, act type, signer name/address, identity method, credential details, itemized fees) |
| Thumbprint / Fingerprint | Not required · Not prohibited · Available as optional in NotaryAct NJ configuration |
| Retention Period | 10 years after last entry in journal |
| Lost / Stolen Journal | Notify State Treasurer (DORES) within 10 days ✓ |
| On Commission End | Retain 10 years and inform State Treasurer of location — OR transmit to DORES or approved repository |
| Attorney Exception | Attorneys, notaries employed by attorneys, and notaries employed by title insurers may use business files in lieu of a separate journal |
| RON Authorized Since | October 22, 2021 (P.L. 2021, c.179) |
| RON Audio-Video Recording | Required — 10-year retention ✓ |
| RON for Wills / Codicils | Not permitted — use RIN instead ✓ |
| Commission Term | 5 years |
| Surety Bond | Not required in New Jersey |
| Standard Notarial Fee | $2.50 per act (general) |
| Real Estate Transfer Fee | $15 per transaction (grantors) |
| Real Estate Financing Fee | $25 per transaction (mortgagors) |
New Jersey’s notary journal law is part of the comprehensive overhaul enacted under P.L. 2021, c.179 — the New Jersey Law on Notarial Acts — which took effect October 22, 2021. The journal requirement is codified at N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.18 and applies to every commissioned New Jersey notary, covering all notarial acts whether performed on paper documents or electronic records.
Three features of New Jersey’s journal rules are worth understanding clearly from the start:
One journal for everything. New Jersey requires notaries to maintain only one active journal at a time, and that single journal must chronicle all notarial acts — both tangible and electronic. Unlike some states that allow separate journals for paper and electronic records, New Jersey keeps it unified. When one journal fills up, start a new one — but never run two simultaneously.
Six required fields, no exceptions. Every entry must contain six specific pieces of information. Entries cannot be left partially blank. The statute specifies exactly what each field must capture, including alternative requirements depending on how the signer’s identity was established.
The 10-day lost/stolen rule is unusually short. Most states require notaries to “promptly” notify the state when a journal is lost or stolen. New Jersey puts a hard deadline on it: notification to the State Treasurer must be made within 10 days of discovering the loss. This is one of the shorter deadlines in the country and one most notaries don’t know about until it’s too late.
N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.18(b) specifies exactly what must be recorded for every notarial act. NotaryAct’s New Jersey configuration captures all six fields — the right information is prompted automatically, and nothing required is left out.
| 1 |
Date and Time of the Notarial Act The exact date and time the act was performed. NotaryAct auto-timestamps every entry at the moment of submission. The timestamp is locked — it cannot be edited or backdated after submission. |
| 2 |
Type of Notarial Act The specific type of act performed: taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification on oath or affirmation, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy or deposition, or noting a protest of a negotiable instrument. NotaryAct provides a structured dropdown covering all New Jersey-authorized act types. |
| 3 |
Full Name and Address of Each Person The complete name and current address of every person for whom the notarial act was performed. NotaryAct’s driver’s license barcode scanner reads this directly from any New Jersey-issued ID — filling both fields instantly with no manual entry and no risk of transcription errors. |
| 4 |
Identity Verification Method How the signer’s identity was established. Two options: (a) Personal knowledge — record a statement to that effect; or (b) Satisfactory evidence — record the method of identification and the credential presented, including credential type, date of issuance, and expiration date. NotaryAct supports both methods with dedicated fields for each. |
| 5 |
Credible Witness Details (If Used) If a credible identifying witness was used to establish the signer’s identity, record the witness’s name and signature, plus — if the witness used an ID — the type, issuance date, and expiration date of the witness’s identifying document. This is a sub-requirement within Field 4 but statute treats it as a distinct element. NotaryAct includes dedicated credible witness fields. |
| 6 |
Itemized List of All Fees Charged An itemized list of every fee charged for the notarial act — not just a total, but each charge broken out. If no fee was charged, that should be noted. NotaryAct includes a dedicated fee field in every entry. New Jersey’s standard fee is $2.50 per notarial act for most services, $15 per transaction for real estate transfers, and $25 per transaction for real estate financing. |
✔ NotaryAct is state-configured for New Jersey: NotaryAct’s New Jersey configuration enables exactly the fields required by N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.18 and presents them in the correct sequence. The act type dropdown is pre-loaded with all New Jersey-authorized notarial acts. The identity method field presents the personal knowledge and satisfactory evidence options. Credible witness fields appear when selected. You don’t need to memorize the statute — the app reflects it.
New Jersey gives notaries a genuine choice of format, but imposes one strict constraint regardless of which format is chosen.
Paper journal: Must be a permanent, bound register with consecutively numbered lines and consecutively numbered pages. Loose-leaf binders and spiral notebooks do not comply. The journal must be permanent — entries cannot be removed or altered.
Electronic journal: Must be in a permanent, tamper-evident electronic format complying with any rules promulgated by the State Treasurer. NotaryAct satisfies this standard — entries are locked at the time of submission, stored in an encrypted cloud, and cannot be altered after the fact.
One journal for all acts: This is the rule that catches notaries off guard. New Jersey requires a single journal to chronicle all notarial acts, whether those acts are performed on tangible records or electronic records. You cannot maintain one paper journal for in-person notarizations and a separate electronic journal for digital ones. Everything goes in one place.
New Jersey does not require a thumbprint or fingerprint for any notary journal entry — not for real estate documents, not for powers of attorney, not for any category of notarization. There is no equivalent of California’s GC 8206 thumbprint requirement in New Jersey law.
New Jersey also does not prohibit fingerprints in the journal. Unlike Pennsylvania, which enacted an express ban on biometric records in journal entries effective March 2026, New Jersey law is silent on the subject — neither requiring nor forbidding a voluntary thumbprint.
The NNA’s Notary Hotline has addressed New Jersey thumbprint questions specifically, confirming that collecting a thumbprint is a notary’s discretionary choice in New Jersey, not a legal obligation in either direction.
✔ NotaryAct’s New Jersey configuration: Fingerprint capture — via camera photo or Bluetooth scanner — is available as an optional field in the NotaryAct New Jersey journal entry. It is not presented as required and will not block entry submission if not completed. Notaries who choose to collect a voluntary thumbprint as an additional fraud deterrent can do so; those who prefer not to are fully compliant either way.
New Jersey’s 10-year retention period runs from the last notarial act recorded in the journal — not from the date your commission expires, and not from the date of each individual act. A journal you close today must be kept until 2036.
When a commission ends — by resignation, revocation, suspension, or simply not renewing — N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.18(e) gives the notary two options:
Option 1 — Retain and report: Keep the journal for the full 10-year period and notify the State Treasurer where the journal is located.
Option 2 — Transmit: Send the journal to the New Jersey Department of the Treasury, Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services (DORES), or to a repository approved by the State Treasurer.
On death or adjudication of incompetency, the notary’s personal representative or guardian has the same two options and must take the appropriate action.
NotaryAct stores all records in an encrypted, redundant cloud with automatic continuous backups. Your journal entries remain accessible from any device for well beyond the 10-year minimum. If you choose to transmit to DORES on commission end, NotaryAct’s export function produces a complete, organized record of your entire journal at any time.
This is the New Jersey rule that surprises most notaries. Under N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.18(c), if a journal is lost or stolen, the notary must notify the State Treasurer within 10 days of discovering the loss. Notification is completed online through the DORES Notary Public portal at njportal.com/DOR/Notary.
Ten days is one of the shortest notification deadlines in the country. Most states use “promptly” or “immediately” without a hard number, giving notaries more flexibility. New Jersey sets a firm deadline, and missing it is a compliance failure.
Having your journal in NotaryAct’s encrypted cloud provides direct protection against this scenario. If a phone or device is lost or stolen, your journal records survive intact in the cloud — there is nothing to report to the State Treasurer because the records were never lost. The risk applies when notaries rely on local device storage or paper-only journals with no backup.
New Jersey carves out a specific exception to the journal requirement for three categories of notaries under N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.18(g):
1. Attorneys-at-law admitted in New Jersey — may maintain records of their notarial acts in the regular files of their law practice instead of a separate notary journal.
2. Notaries employed by an attorney — may use the attorney’s law practice files for the same purpose.
3. Notaries employed by or acting as agents of a licensed title insurance company — may maintain records in the title company’s regular business files instead of a separate journal.
This exception is limited to the journal recordkeeping requirement. All other notary laws — identification requirements, certificate requirements, stamp requirements, and RON rules — apply equally to attorneys and title company employees as to any other New Jersey notary.
New Jersey permanently authorized both Remote Online Notarization (RON) and Remote Ink Notarization (RIN) under P.L. 2021, c.179, effective October 22, 2021. Both are available to all commissioned New Jersey notaries.
Before performing RON or electronic notarizations, a notary must notify the State Treasurer through the DORES Notary Public portal, identifying the communication technology platform they intend to use. This notification is required before the first electronic or remote notarial act and whenever the technology platform changes.
RON identity verification requires at least two forms of identity proofing from the following options: credential analysis of a government-issued ID, knowledge-based authentication (KBA), or biometric verification — all facilitated by the RON platform.
Audio-visual recording of the complete RON session is required. The recording must include the identity verification portion. Ten-year retention applies to all recordings.
RON is not permitted for wills, codicils, or testamentary trusts. These documents require RIN — remote ink notarization — where the document is physically signed (wet ink) and the notary appears remotely via communication technology. Under RIN, the two witnesses required for a valid will must be physically present with the testator; only the notary may be remote.
Notary location: The notary must be physically located in New Jersey at the time of any RON or RIN session. The signer may be located anywhere.
| New Jersey Requirement (N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.18) | How NotaryAct Covers It | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Single journal for all notarial acts | One active journal enforced — all act types in one sequential record | ✔ |
| Permanent, tamper-evident electronic format | Entries locked at submission; audit trail records all access; encrypted cloud storage | ✔ |
| Date and time of every act | Auto-timestamped at submission — locked, non-editable | ✔ |
| Type of notarial act | Structured dropdown pre-loaded with all NJ-authorized act types | ✔ |
| Full name and address of each person | Barcode scanner auto-fills from NJ driver’s license; manual entry also supported | ✔ |
| Identity method — personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence | Both options presented; credential type, issuance date, and expiration date fields included | ✔ |
| Credible witness name, signature, and credential details | Dedicated credible witness fields appear when that option is selected | ✔ |
| Itemized fees | Itemized fee field in every entry; zero-fee notation supported | ✔ |
| Fingerprint — optional, not required or prohibited | Available as an optional field via camera photo or Bluetooth scanner; not presented as required | ✔ |
| 10-year retention from last entry | Encrypted cloud; records accessible well beyond 10-year minimum; redundant backups | ✔ |
| Journal available if lost/stolen — records survive | Cloud storage means records survive device loss; nothing to report to State Treasurer if journal is in NotaryAct | ✔ |
Are New Jersey notaries required to keep a journal?
Yes. N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.18 requires every commissioned New Jersey notary to maintain a single sequential journal of all notarial acts. This applies to traditional paper notarizations and electronic notarizations alike. The journal must be either a permanent bound paper register or a tamper-evident electronic format.
Can I keep separate journals for paper and electronic notarizations?
No. New Jersey requires only one active journal at a time, and it must chronicle all notarial acts regardless of whether they are performed on tangible or electronic records. This is explicitly stated in N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.18(a)(2). One journal covers everything.
Are thumbprints required in a New Jersey notary journal?
No. New Jersey law does not require fingerprints or thumbprints for any journal entry. New Jersey is also not among the states that prohibit them. Collecting a voluntary thumbprint is a notary’s personal choice — it is neither mandated nor forbidden. NotaryAct’s New Jersey configuration makes fingerprint capture available as an optional feature via camera photo or Bluetooth scanner.
What must I do if my journal is lost or stolen?
You must notify the State Treasurer within 10 days of discovering the loss. Notification is completed online through the DORES Notary Public portal at njportal.com/DOR/Notary. Ten days is a hard statutory deadline — not a guideline. If you store your journal in NotaryAct’s cloud, device loss does not trigger this requirement because the records themselves are not lost.
How long must I keep my journal after my commission ends?
You must retain journal records for 10 years after the last entry, even after your commission expires. Alternatively, you may transmit the journal to DORES or an approved repository. If you retain it yourself, you must notify the State Treasurer where the journal is located.
Can New Jersey attorneys skip keeping a notary journal?
Yes, with conditions. Attorneys admitted in New Jersey, notaries employed by attorneys, and notaries employed by or acting as agents for licensed title insurance companies may use their regular business files to record notarial acts instead of maintaining a separate notary journal. All other notarial requirements still apply to these notaries.
Can I perform RON notarizations in New Jersey?
Yes. New Jersey permanently authorized RON under P.L. 2021, c.179. Before performing your first RON or electronic notarization, you must notify the State Treasurer through the DORES portal and identify your technology platform. RON requires at least two forms of identity proofing and a complete audio-visual recording of every session, retained for 10 years. RON is not permitted for wills, codicils, or testamentary trusts — use RIN for those.
What are the fee limits for New Jersey notaries?
The standard fee is $2.50 per notarial act for most services. For real estate transactions, the fee is $15 per transaction for oaths, affidavits, and acknowledgments of grantors — regardless of how many individual acts are performed in that transaction. For real estate financing, the fee is $25 per transaction for mortgagors. No surety bond is required in New Jersey.
Where can I find official New Jersey notary guidance?
The New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services (DORES) administers the notary program. The DORES notary portal is at njportal.com/DOR/Notary. The New Jersey Notary Public Manual (October 2021) is available at nj.gov/treasury/revenue/pdf/NotaryPublicManual.pdf. The full text of N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.18 is available at law.justia.com.
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NotaryAct is state-configured for New Jersey — all six required fields, the correct act type dropdown, one active journal enforced, and 10-year encrypted cloud retention. Whether you notarize paper documents, electronic records, or both, every entry is compliant from the moment you submit it.
This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Information reflects P.L. 2021, c.179 (N.J.S.A. 52:7-10 et seq.), the New Jersey Notary Public Manual (October 2021), and N.J.A.C. 17:50 as in effect June 2026. Laws and regulations are subject to change. Consult the New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services or qualified legal counsel for guidance specific to your situation.
