Mississippi Notary Requirements

Miss. Code Ann. SS 25-34-13 (Personal knowledge / satisfactory evidence of identity) [Effective July 1, 2021]: (1) A notarial officer has personal knowledge of the identity of an individual appearing before the officer if the individual is known personally to the officer through dealings sufficient to provide reasonable certainty that the individual has the identity claimed. (2) A notarial officer has satisfactory evidence of the identity of an individual appearing before the officer if the officer can identify the individual by means of inspecting: (a) An unexpired passport, an unexpired driver's license or a driver's license that has not been expired for more than five (5) years, a government-issued nondriver identification card, a Mississippi voter ID card or an unexpired photographic identification card issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe or nation; or (b) Another form of government identification issued to an individual which is not expired, contains the signature and a photograph of the individual, and is satisfactory to the officer. (3) A notarial officer may require an individual to provide additional information or identification credentials necessary to assure the officer of the identity of the individual.

1 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 5, R. 5.7 (Identification of individual - personal knowledge): When a notary public has personal knowledge of the identity of an individual, satisfactory evidence is not required.

1 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 5, R. 5.8 (Identification of individual - satisfactory evidence): A. For the purposes of Section 13(2)(a) of the act (relating to identification of individual), a notary public may rely upon any of the following: 1. A driver's license or nondriver identification card issued by a state of the United States, which is current or a driver's license that has not been expired for more than five (5) years. 2. A passport or passport card issued by the United States Secretary of State of State, which is current and unexpired. 3. A voter ID card issued by the State of Mississippi. 4. A nondriver identification card issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe or nation, which is current and unexpired. 5. A passport issued by a foreign government, which is current and unexpired, provided it uses letters, characters and a language that are read, written, and understood by the notary public. 6. A driver's license or nondriver identification card issued by a state of the United States, which is current and unexpired. 7. A driver's license or nondriver identification card issued by a state or territory of Canada or Mexico, which is current and unexpired, provided it uses letters, characters and a language that are read, written, and understood by the notary public.
B. For the purposes of Section 13(2)(b) of the Act (relating to identification of individual), other forms of government identification may include any of the following: 1. An identification card issued by any branch of the United States armed forces. 2. An inmate identification card issued by the agency which has supervisory custody of the inmate. 3. An identification card issued by the United States Secretary of State of Homeland Security. 4. An identification card issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe or nation. 5. A state or state-related university identification card.
C. For the purposes of Section 13(2)(b) of the Act (relating to identification of individual), other forms of government identification must be current, contain the signature or photograph of the individual to be identified, and must be satisfactory to the notary public. When there is a date of issuance on the other form of government identification specified in subsection (b)(3) of this Rule, it must be a date prior to the notarial act.

Miss. Code Ann. SS 25-34-37 (Maintenance of journal; entry information) [Effective July 1, 2021]: (1) A notary public must maintain a journal in which the notary public chronicles all notarial acts that the notary public performs. (2) A journal must be created on a tangible or electronic medium. A notary public shall maintain only one (1) journal at a time to chronicle all notarial acts, whether those notarial acts are performed regarding tangible or electronic records. If the journal is tangible, it must be a permanent, bound register with numbered pages. An electronic journal must conform to specifications set forth in rules by the Secretary of State. (3) An entry in a journal must be made contemporaneously with performance of the notarial act and contain the following information: (a) The date and time of the notarial act; (b) A description of the record, if any, and type of notarial act; (c) The full name and address of each individual for whom the notarial act is performed; (d) If identity of the individual is based on personal knowledge, a statement to that effect; (e) If identity of the individual is based on satisfactory evidence, a brief description of the method of identification and the identification credential presented, if any, including the date of issuance and expiration of any identification credential; (f) The address where the notarial act was performed if not the notary's business address; and (g) The fee, if any, charged by the notary public.

Rule 4.1. Identification of notary public in journal. A. A notary public must record each notarial act in a journal at the time of notarization in compliance with Section 37 of the Act (relating to journal and audio-video recordings) and these Rules. B. Each journal of a notary public, whether maintained on a tangible medium or in an electronic format, must contain all of the following information in any order: 1. The name of the notary public as it appears on the commission; 2. The notary public's commission number; 3. The notary public's commission expiration date; 4. The notary public's office address of record with the Secretary of State; 5. A statement that, in the event of the death of the notary public, the journal shall be delivered or mailed to the circuit clerk of the county of residence of the notary public; 6. The meaning of any not commonly abbreviated word or symbol used in recording a notarial act in the notarial journal; and 7. The signature of the notary public. C. If a notary public's name, commission expiration date, or address changes before the notary public ceases to use the notarial journal, the notary public shall add the new information after the old information and the date which the information changed.

Rule 4.2. Journal entries. A. Separate entries. Each notarial act must be indicated as a separate entry in the journal. B. Optional entries. In addition to the entries required under Section 37(3) of the act (relating to journal), a journal may contain the signature of the individual for whom the notarial act is performed and any additional information about a specific transaction that might assist the notary public to recall the transaction. C. Prohibited entries. A journal may not contain any personal financial or identification information about the notary public's clients, such as complete Social Security numbers, complete drivers' license numbers or complete account numbers. Terminal numbers for these types of numbers, including the last four digits of a Social Security number, may be used to clarify which individual or account was involved. D. Fees. Each notarial fee charged should correspond to the notarial act performed. If a fee is waived or not charged, the notary public shall indicate this fact in the journal entry using notations such as "n/c," "0" (zero) or "-" (dash). Clerical and administrative fees, if charged, shall be separately itemized in the journal. E. Address. For purpose of journal entries, address means the city and state only. F. Personal financial or identification information. For the purpose of subsection (c) of this Rule, "personal financial or identification information" means: 1. An individual's first name or first initial and last name in combination with and linked to any one or more of the following data elements when the data elements are not encrypted or redacted: a. Social Security number. b. Driver's license number or a State identification card number issued instead of a driver's license. c. Financial account number, credit or debit card number, in combination with any required security code, access code, or password that would permit access to an individual's financial account. 2. The term does not include publicly available information that is lawfully made available to the general public from federal, state, or local government records. G. Transitional provision. A notary public who holds a commission on July 1, 2021, may continue to use the notary public's journal until the expiration of that commission, which may occur after July 1, 2021.

Rule 4.3. Form and content of journal maintained on a tangible medium. A. A journal maintained on paper or on any other tangible medium may be in any form that meets the physical requirements in this chapter and the entry requirements in Section 37(3) of the act (relating to journal). B. The cover and pages inside the cover must be bound together by any binding method that is designed to prevent the insertion, removal, or substitution of the cover or a page. This includes glue, staples, grommets, or another binding, but does not include the use of tape, paper clips, or binder clips. C. Each page must be consecutively numbered from the beginning to the end of the journal. If a journal provides two pages on which to record the required information about the same notarial act, both pages may be numbered with the same number or each page may be numbered with a different number. A page number must be preprinted. D. Each line, or entry if the journal is designed with numbered entry blocks, must be consecutively numbered from the beginning to the end of the page. If a line extends across two pages, the line must be numbered with the same number on both pages. A line or entry number must be preprinted.

Miss. Code Ann. SS 25-34-9 (Fees for notarial services) [Effective July 1, 2021]: A notarial officer may charge a fee in an amount not to exceed Five Dollars ($5.00) for services rendered unless otherwise prohibited by law or by rules promulgated by the Secretary of State.