Florida Notary Requirements

Fla. Stat. § 117.05(5) (Identification of signer):
(5) A notary public may not notarize a signature on a document unless he or she personally knows, or has satisfactory evidence, that the person whose signature is to be notarized is the individual who is described in and who is executing the instrument. A notary public shall certify in the certificate of acknowledgment or jurat the type of identification, either based on personal knowledge or other form of identification, upon which the notary public is relying. In the case of an online notarization, the online notary public shall comply with the requirements set forth in part II of this chapter.
(a) For purposes of this subsection, the term "personally knows" means having an acquaintance, derived from association with the individual, which establishes the individual's identity with at least a reasonable certainty.
(b) For the purposes of this subsection, the term "satisfactory evidence" means the absence of any information, evidence, or other circumstances which would lead a reasonable person to believe that the person whose signature is to be notarized is not the person he or she claims to be and any one of the following:
1. The sworn written statement of one credible witness personally known to the notary public or the sworn written statement of two credible witnesses whose identities are proven to the notary public upon the presentation of satisfactory evidence that each of the following is true:
a. That the person whose signature is to be notarized is the person named in the document;
b. That the person whose signature is to be notarized is personally known to the witnesses;
c. That it is the reasonable belief of the witnesses that the circumstances of the person whose signature is to be notarized are such that it would be very difficult or impossible for that person to obtain another acceptable form of identification;
d. That it is the reasonable belief of the witnesses that the person whose signature is to be notarized does not possess any of the identification documents specified in subparagraph 2.; and
e. That the witnesses do not have a financial interest in nor are parties to the underlying transaction; or
2. Reasonable reliance on the presentation to the notary public of any one of the following forms of identification, if the document is current or has been issued within the past 5 years and bears a serial or other identifying number:
a. A Florida identification card or driver license issued by the public agency authorized to issue driver licenses;
b. A passport issued by the Department of State of the United States;
c. A passport issued by a foreign government if the document is stamped by the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services;
d. A driver license or an identification card issued by a public agency authorized to issue driver licenses in a state other than Florida or in a territory of the United States, or Canada or Mexico;
e. An identification card issued by any branch of the armed forces of the United States;
f. A veteran health identification card issued by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs;
g. An inmate identification card issued on or after January 1, 1991, by the Florida Department of Corrections for an inmate who is in the custody of the department;
h. An inmate identification card issued by the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, for an inmate who is in the custody of the department;
i. A sworn, written statement from a sworn law enforcement officer that the forms of identification for an inmate in an institution of confinement were confiscated upon confinement and that the person named in the document is the person whose signature is to be notarized; or
j. An identification card issued by the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

NO TRADITIONAL JOURNAL MANDATE.

Fla. Stat. § 117.05(2) (NOTARY FEE): (a) The fee of a notary public may not exceed $10 for any one notarial act under this part, except as provided in s. 117.045 or s. 117.275. (b) A notary public may not charge a fee for witnessing a vote-by-mail ballot in an election, and must witness such a ballot upon the request of an elector, provided the notarial act is in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Cross-ref: § 117.045 (marriages) caps the solemnization fee at the rate clerks of the circuit court charge for like services.