Address, Name & Resignation
~9 min read · Meet the 30-day change-of-address duty and the seal/journal disposition rules on exit.
The administrative rules are where careful notaries lose points: a move, a marriage, a resignation — each has a filing, a deadline, and a required destination for the journal and seal. The recurring number is 30 days.
Address and name changes
A change of business or residence address must be reported to the Secretary of State within 30 days — by certified mail or approved means; failure is an infraction with a fine of up to $500. A name change is a filing (name change application) followed, once the amended commission issues, by a new oath and bond amendment filed with the county clerk within 30 days. Until the amended commission is effective, the notary continues to act under the commissioned name.
- Address change → SoS within 30 days (infraction, fine up to $500)
- Name change → amended commission, then oath + bond rider to county clerk within 30 days
- Keep acting under the old name until the amendment takes effect
End of commission: resignation, expiration, death
When a commission ends — resignation, expiration without reappointment, or revocation — the notary must deliver all journals to the county clerk where the current oath is on file within 30 days. The seal must be destroyed (defaced beyond use) by the notary — it is never surrendered for reuse, never sold, never kept as a memento in usable form. On a notary's death, the personal representative delivers the journals to the county clerk and destroys or delivers the seal.
- Journals → county clerk within 30 days of commission ending
- Seal → destroyed by the notary (or estate), never surrendered intact
- Same rules for resignation, expiration, and revocation
Continuity gaps and reappointment
Reappointment is a fresh cycle: refresher education, exam if the window lapsed, new commission, new oath-and-bond filing within 30 days of the new term. A notary whose term expires before the new commission takes effect simply cannot notarize in the gap — there is no grace period and no 'pending renewal' authority.
Worked example
A notary marries in March and begins signing her married name; in June she moves offices across town and tells no one; in December she decides to quit. Walk the compliance she owed and owes.
March: signing a name that doesn't match the commission is the first error — she must file the name-change application, and after the amended commission issues, file the new oath and bond amendment with the county clerk within 30 days; until then she acts under the commissioned (maiden) name. June: the address change owed the Secretary of State notice within 30 days — the silent move is an infraction (up to $500). December: resignation triggers the exit protocol — deliver every journal to the county clerk holding her oath within 30 days, and destroy the seal herself. The pattern the exam wants: every administrative event has a 30-day clock, and the journal always ends at the county clerk while the seal always dies.
Common exam pitfalls
Mailing retired journals to the Secretary of State.
Journals go to the COUNTY CLERK (where the oath is on file). The SoS gets notifications, not journals.
Keeping the old seal as a souvenir.
The seal must be destroyed/defaced when the commission ends — an intact seal is a fraud kit.
Notarizing under a new married name immediately.
The commissioned name controls until the amended commission and its oath/bond filing are complete.
Thirty days for everything; journals to the clerk, the seal to the shredder.
Recap
- Address change: SoS within 30 days; infraction + fine up to $500 if missed
- Name change: application → amended commission → oath/bond amendment within 30 days
- Commission ends: journals to county clerk within 30 days
- Seal is destroyed — never surrendered, sold, or kept usable
- Death: the estate delivers journals and destroys the seal
- No grace period between commissions — no valid commission, no notarizing
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