The final piece, and a weird little coincidence.
by beanalreasa
In other news, I received the final piece in my commission to become a Florida notary public this past Thursday; my commission stamp finally arrived in the mail!
As you might imagine, I am excited to begin to work as a notary public, as it’s another great addition to my skill-set.
But while I was out with my kid at the grocery store yesterday (Friday), I experienced a strange coincidence.
This guy had walked up to us, asking for money. He claimed to be homeless, and he launched into a story about how he needed $17 for food, and $50 for – I kid you not – notary public fees.
He then admitted that he’d already gotten $4 of the amount that he needed by pulling the four one dollar bills from his wallet as if to show us proof of his honesty.
Now, since I have recently become a notary public – my commission is marked as beginning on 3rd February 2021 as a matter of fact! – I thought that $50 sounded like a huge amount for notary fees.
Why?
Because, according to the state of Florida, “a notary may charge up to $10 in notary fees for any notarial act… If you charge a higher fee than prescribed by law, the Governor may suspend your commission.”
So I was wondering what in the world this guy needed notarized that required *five* notarial acts to be performed to be considered legal.
I mean, barring the solemnization of a marriage, or signing for a mortgage on a house (which can require, on average, two stamped notarizations) I cannot fathom why he’d need $50 just for notary fees.
It definitely struck me as the oddest part of his story – his insistence on needing money for notary fees!
So, between us, my son and I gave him a grand total of $13, for which this man was grateful – but for some reason, it did not occur to me to offer him my newly minted notary services.
But it amuses me to think now that I could have!
What a weird little coincidence, I could have said to him, I just became a notary public as of last week…!
LOL
bloodteethandflame 
Just to compare with NY… as I have recent experiance: ‘The notary on wheels’ will comes to you, thanks to covid, and they may charge as much as $100 per visit. I got my papers a few times signed in nearby bank, which does this for free. A few of them do, like City, Chase, TB etc. So it takes an effort an time to look for good service. The homeless guy was either given a bad advice he failed, or had no means, to check, or he was not completely honest. You were right to be cautious about it. Congrats to your new public notary function-position!
Wow! $100 to come to your house? That’s crazy.
Though I have learned through further research that though a Florida notary should not be charging more than $10 ‘per stamp’ – many freelance local notaries in this area charge anywhere from $20-35 fee total per visit total. That’s $10 for the stamp, and the rest of the fee is to cover travel, postage, supplies, etc. The law I quoted doesn’t say that you can’t charge an ‘extra fee’ for things like that – but it does caution the notary to keep records (and reasons) for the ‘extra fees’ charged, if a client should ever file a complaint against the notary.
I know, crazy. I needed notary 2x recently, and I think some are cashing on Covid to come to you. I was lucky to find open bank, no line and all and surprise to be free. $10 used to be the charge for a stamp around here years ago too.
we bought our house in 2020 ( we live in CA )and the notary fees was $125.00…. I’m thinking of becoming a Notary…we’ll see, thanks for the post, Dave