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Commission 135560858State of TexasCommission ends 07/29/2030

Double E'sNotary Services

I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY LICENSED TO PRACTICE LAW IN TEXAS AND MAY NOT GIVE LEGAL ADVICE OR ACCEPT FEES FOR LEGAL ADVICE.

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The journal and the recording are not the same record

A Texas notary who works online is keeping two records, not one. They are easy to mix up because both come out of the same session. They are not the same thing, and they do not run for the same length of time.

The journal is the written record of the act. Government Code § 406.014 tells you what goes in it: the date of the instrument, the date of the notarization, the signer's name and mailing address, how the signer was identified, and, if someone introduced the signer, that person's name and address. For an online act, the entry also needs the facts the online record requires, including the fee. The entry is kept until the tenth anniversary of the notarization under § 406.014(g). A void stays in the book. The number is not used again.

The recording is the audio-visual conference. Government Code § 406.108 requires a secure electronic record of each online notarization, and that record includes the recording. Section 406.108(c) keeps it for at least five years after the transaction. Five years is not ten. When the fifth year ends, the recording requirement has run. The journal entry has not.

The recording has to show the identification, not just the signature. 1 Texas Administrative Code § 87.41 expects confirmation that identity proofing and credential analysis were completed, a visual check of the credential, and the notarial act itself. If you personally know the signer, the recording includes that statement and the act. The recording is not a place to store a copy of the identification number in your journal. Government Code § 406.014 and 1 Texas Administrative Code § 87.50 prohibit an identification number and a fingerprint in the record book. That prohibition does not cancel the recording.

This is the part that gets a commission in trouble. The duty is yours. It is not the platform's. I have used ProNotary, Notaron, BlueNotary, and Proof. Any of them can hold the session. None of them can hold the duty. If a platform deletes a recording after two years, or when you close the account, you are short unless you already downloaded it and kept a backup you control. Download it while you still can log in. Do not discover the gap when someone asks for the session in year four.

Keep the two files apart in your own mind. The journal is the entry you can certify and produce. The recording is the conference. One is ten years. The other is at least five. A setting inside someone else's software is not either of those clocks.

This note is how I keep the two records. It is not legal advice.