Vermont Notary Requirements
ACCEPTABLE IDs FOR A VERMONT NOTARY
26 V.S.A. § 5365 (Identification of individual). (a) Personal knowledge. A notary public has personal knowledge of the identity of an individual appearing before the officer if the individual is personally known to the officer through dealings sufficient to provide reasonable certainty that the individual has the identity claimed. (b) Satisfactory evidence. A notary public has satisfactory evidence of the identity of an individual appearing before the officer if the officer can identify the individual: (1) by means of: (A) a passport, driver's license, or government-issued nondriver identification card, which is current or expired not more than three years before performance of the notarial act; or (B) another form of government identification issued to an individual, which is current or expired not more than three years before performance of the notarial act, contains the signature or a photograph of the individual, and is satisfactory to the officer; or (2) by a verification on oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally appearing before the officer and known to the officer or whom the officer can identify on the basis of a passport, driver's license, or government-issued nondriver identification card, which is current or expired not more than three years before performance of the notarial act.
State & Local IDs
Vermont requires a state-issued identification bearing a photograph or signature, current or expired no more than 3 years ago.
Documents qualifying under this standard remain subject to your judgment as the notary that the identification presented is satisfactory.
1Vermont does not issue this credential.
2Acceptable only if the License to Carry/CHL card bears a photograph or signature - verify on the card presented; some states' License to Carry/CHLs do not.
3Acceptable only if the Voter ID card bears a photograph or signature - verify on the card presented; some states' Voter IDs do not.
Federal IDs
Vermont requires a federally issued identification bearing a photograph or signature, current or expired no more than 3 years ago.
Documents qualifying under this standard remain subject to your judgment as the notary that the identification presented is satisfactory.
Military & Veteran
Government Employment
Vermont requires a government-issued identification bearing a photograph or signature, current or expired no more than 3 years ago.
1Acceptable if the card bears a photograph or signature - verify on the card presented.
Tribal
1Acceptable if the card bears a photograph or signature - verify on the card presented.
Foreign IDs
Vermont requires a foreign-government issued identification bearing a photograph or signature, current or expired no more than 3 years ago.
Documents qualifying under this standard remain subject to your judgment as the notary that the identification presented is satisfactory.
Inmate & Corrections
Vermont accepts state, county, and federal inmate identification as listed below.
1Acceptable if the card bears a photograph or signature - verify on the card presented.
CREDIBLE WITNESS(ES)
Vermont (26 V.S.A. 5365(b)(2), Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts) accepts a verification on oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally appearing before the officer and known to the officer or whom the officer can identify on the basis of a passport, driver license, or government-issued nondriver identification card; the oath is the act.
PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE
*Personal knowledge through sufficient dealings.
Journal Rules
NO TRADITIONAL JOURNAL MANDATE.
- Journal required?
- ✗
- Bound paper journal required?
- ✗
- Wet signature required in journal?
- ✗
- Wet thumbprint required?
- ✗
- Digital journal allowed?
- ✓
- Journal format
- Optional
Notary Fees
26 V.S.A. ch. 103 (Notaries Public): NO statutory maximum notarial fee - Vermont does not cap per-act notarial fees by statute (notary-set; OPR sets commission/application fees only, not per-act charges).
- Acknowledgment (max)
- —
- Jurat (max)
- —
- Additional signature (max)
- —
- Travel fee capped?
- ✗
- Travel fee disclosure required?
- ✓
Notarial Acts
Certificate Language
Dated: {date}
Bracketed {tokens} are placeholders the app fills in (venue, names, dates) when it generates a certificate.
Source Documents
Full statute and (where published) the commissioning authority’s notary handbook. Download links appear here once the documents table is populated.
📄 Full notary statute (coming soon) 📄 Notary handbook (coming soon)