West Virginia Secretary of State, Licensing Division (Notary Division) commissions notaries public in West Virginia. Every figure below is verified against the commissioning authority’s own official pages and dated.

What it’s called

The statutory noun is ’notary public’ and the credential is a COMMISSION issued by the Secretary of State – W. Va. Code 39-4-20(d), ’the Secretary of State shall issue a commission as a notary public to an applicant for a term of five years’; the handbook defines a notary public as ‘a public officer commissioned by the Secretary of State’. ‘Notary license’ and ’notary certification’ are folk terms; West Virginia’s own documents use ‘commission’, ‘appointment’ and ‘recommission’, never ’license’, for the notary itself (the SOS files it under a ‘Licensing’ division, which is where the folk term leaks in). The five-year renewal is officially a ‘recommission’, not a renewal. ‘E-Notary’ is the state’s own shorthand for in-person electronic notarization (the handbook glosses it ‘E-Notary a/k/a In-Person Electronic Notarization (IPEN)’); it does NOT mean remote notarization in West Virginia, which is ‘remote online notarial act (RON)’ or ‘remote ink notarial act (RIN)’. ‘Notary signing agent’ and ’loan signing agent’ are private vendor credentials; West Virginia issues no such credential and no source read for this record mentions one. A separate West Virginia office, ‘Out-of-State Commissioner’, is a different appointment under W. Va. Code 39-4A-1 et seq. and is cross-referenced by 39-4-37(c)(4)(A) as a prerequisite for remotely notarizing for a signer located outside the United States – do not confuse it with the notary commission.

Types of notary commission

  • Notary public commission (traditional / paper) — Any individual 18 or older who is a West Virginia resident or has a place of employment or practice in West Virginia and meets the other W. Va. Code 39-4-20(b) qualifications. Issued by the Secretary of State for a term of five years under W. Va. Code 39-4-20(d). Filing fee $52.00, applied for online through the Enterprise Registration & Licensing System (ERLS). This is the base credential; every other authorization below sits on top of an active traditional commission.
  • Electronic notary authorization (E-Notary / IPEN, RON and RIN) — A commissioned West Virginia notary in good standing who wants to notarize electronic documents, notarize for remotely located signers, or perform remote ink notarizations. ONE registration covers all three. Form N-2 ‘West Virginia Electronic Signature Verification Authorization’ (Rev. 7/2021) carries a single checkbox group: ‘Select the type of electronic signature verification services that are to be provided: (Select one or more options) [ ] E-Notary [ ] Remote Online Notarization [ ] Remote Ink Notarization: Platforms using (list all)’. NO FEE (stated at the top of Form N-2 and on the SOS fee table as ‘No Fee’). The SOS handbook states ‘The commission for electronic notarization runs concurrently with the traditional commission, expiring on the same date.’ The applicant must already have the technology: ‘Applicant must be currently registered as an active West Virginia Notary and have the capability to notarize electronically before requesting authorization to perform Electronic Notarizations, Remote Online Notarizations or Remote Ink Notarizations.’
  • Government notary public — State and local government employees commissioned to act for and on behalf of their government office. Federal employees are NOT eligible. W. Va. Code 39-4-31(a)-(f). The $52.00 fee is waived: the SOS fee page states ‘The $52.00 fee is waived for state and local government notaries. To have the fee waived, a letter from the head of your state or local government office certifying that the application is made for the purpose of the government office must be included with your application. Federal employees are not eligible.’ 39-4-31(f) adds: ‘a government notary public may not operate privately’, and 39-4-31(d) requires all fees received for notarial services to be remitted to the employing office.

Who can be commissioned

W. Va. Code 39-4-20(b), reproduced by the SOS: an applicant must (1) be at least 18 years of age; (2) be a citizen or permanent legal resident of the United States; (3) ‘Be a resident of or have a place of employment or practice in this state’ – the SOS phrases the same rule as ‘Be a resident of West Virginia, or a resident of another state who works at an office address within West Virginia’; (4) be able to read and write English; (5) ‘For any applicant that has not been commissioned as a notary prior to January 1, 2018, have a high school diploma or its equivalent’ – the September 2025 handbook carries the same carve-out as a footnote, ‘Unless the notary was commissioned prior to January 1, 2018’; and (6) not be disqualified under W. Va. Code 39-4-23 (the statute’s own cross-reference) / 39-4-21 (the cross-reference used on the SOS application page and in handbook item 6, which cites ‘W. Va. Code 39-4-21 or 39-4-23’). Criminal history is a discretionary bar, not an automatic one: 39-4-21(a) lets the Secretary of State deny, refuse to renew, revoke, suspend or condition a commission ‘for any act or omission that demonstrates the individual lacks the honesty, integrity, competence, or reliability to act as a notary public, including … (3) A conviction of the applicant or notary public of any felony or a crime involving fraud, dishonesty or deceit’. Any adverse action carries ’timely notice and hearing in accordance with article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code’ (39-4-21(b)). Federal employees are not eligible for the government-notary fee waiver (SOS fee page).

Requirements

Steps, in the order the Secretary of State publishes them on the ‘Applying for a Notary Public Commission’ page: (1) Read the notary law – ‘Read the “Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts,” West Virginia Code 39-4, which governs notary practice. On the application, you will be signing an oath that you have read and understand the requirements and will follow the law.’ (2) Complete the application online through the Enterprise Registration & Licensing System – ‘Complete the application online to apply for your initial appointment or to apply for recommission. The filing fee is $52.’ (3) ‘Wait to receive your commission letter and check your seal for accuracy. Your commission letter will provide the exact information you need on your seal.’ (4) ‘Order your rubber stamp seal’ from a private vendor to the state specifications – the SOS does not make or issue stamps. (5) ‘Receive your commission certificate, valid for five (5) years, and your notary handbook. When you receive your commission certificate, you may begin notarizing documents.’ (6) ‘Review the notary handbook and keep it handy where you provide notary services.’ There is NO oath of office ceremony and NO bond: the SOS notes that effective June 3, 2018 the revised notary law (W. Va. Code 39-4-20, House Bill 4207) ‘removed the oath of office and requir[es] an applicant to swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that answers to questions in the application are true’ and ’eliminat[ed] the $1,000 bond requirement.’ W. Va. Code 39-4-20(c) states the applicant must instead ‘solemnly swear or affirm, under penalty of perjury, that the answers to all questions in this application are true, complete, and correct; that he or she has carefully read the notaries public law of West Virginia; and, if appointed and commissioned as a notary public, he or she will perform faithfully, to the best of his or her ability all notarial acts in accordance with the law.’ Optional add-on: to notarize electronically, remotely online (RON) or by remote ink (RIN), file Form N-2 with the SOS at no fee and wait for the SOS letter of authorization before performing any such act.

Training

West Virginia does not require a training course.

No pre-commission education course is required. Sourced negative: the qualification list in W. Va. Code 39-4-20(b) (read in the November 14, 2025 Internet Archive capture of code.wvlegislature.gov/39-4-20/) contains no education requirement other than a high school diploma or equivalent; the eight-item ‘Qualifications to be Commissioned as a Notary Public’ list in the official West Virginia Notary Handbook (Rev. September 2025) contains no course; and the six-step ‘Application Steps’ list on the SOS ‘Applying for a Notary Public Commission’ page contains no course. What the state requires instead is self-study plus an attestation: step 1 is ‘Read the Notary Public Law… On the application, you will be signing an oath that you have read and understand the requirements and will follow the law’, and 39-4-20(c) requires the applicant to swear ’that he or she has carefully read the notaries public law of West Virginia’. Tiers searched on 2026-08-12: statute (39-4-20, 39-4-21, 39-4-30, 39-4-31, 39-4-37 via Internet Archive captures), the SOS application page, the SOS forms-and-fees page, the SOS e-Notarization page, Form N-2, and the September 2025 official handbook. Not searched: 153 CSR 45 (the SOS e-notarization legislative rule) in full text –.

Exam

West Virginia does not require an exam.

No examination. Sourced negative: no exam appears in W. Va. Code 39-4-20(b) (qualifications), in the handbook’s ‘Qualifications to be Commissioned as a Notary Public’ or ‘Application Process’ sections, or in the SOS’s six published application steps – the steps run application, commission letter, order stamp, receive certificate, review handbook, with no testing step anywhere. The handbook instead states that after the application is approved ‘you will receive your Secretary of State commission letter’, and the application page says ‘When you receive your commission certificate, you may begin notarizing documents.’ Tiers searched on 2026-08-12: statute (39-4-20/21/30/31/37), SOS application page, forms-and-fees page, e-Notarization page, Form N-2 (Rev. 7/2021), and the September 2025 handbook.

Bond & insurance

No surety bond. The handbook (Rev. September 2025) states it in terms: ‘Completed applications must be submitted with the statutory $52.00 to the Secretary of State’s Office. No surety bond is needed to become a Notary Public in the State of West Virginia.’ The SOS application page gives the history: effective June 3, 2018 the revised notary law, W. Va. Code 39-4-20 (House Bill 4207), changed notary registration by ’eliminating the $1,000 bond requirement.’ Errors and omissions insurance is NOT required either and is not mentioned in any West Virginia source read for this record – it is not in 39-4-20, not in the handbook, and not on any SOS notary page; West Virginia is therefore a no-bond, no-E&O state and a page saying otherwise is repeating vendor marketing. CONFLICT TO DISCLOSE: W. Va. Code 39-4-21(a)(9) still lists as a ground for discipline ‘Failure of the notary public to maintain an assurance as provided in subsection (d), section twenty of this article’, but the current text of 39-4-20 has no subsection (d) assurance requirement – 39-4-20(d) now reads ‘On compliance with this section, the Secretary of State shall issue a commission as a notary public to an applicant for a term of five years.’ 39-4-21 was last touched in the 2014 regular session (HB 4012) per its own bill history, while 39-4-20 was amended in 2018 (HB 4207) and 2024 (HB 5332); the assurance cross-reference is a dangling remnant of the pre-2018 bond, not a live requirement. Both texts are quoted here rather than reconciled silently.

Fees

Published in one table on the SOS ‘Notary Public Forms and Fees’ page (Filing / Form / Fee), all filings made through the Enterprise Registration & Licensing System: Application for Appointment as a Notary Public – Online – $52.00*; Application for E-Notarization Authorization – Online – No Fee; Name and/or Address Change – Online – No Fee; Recording Lost or Stolen Seal – Online – No Fee; Notary Public Resignation – Online – No Fee. The asterisk footnote: ‘The $52.00 fee is waived for state and local government notaries. To have the fee waived, a letter from the head of your state or local government office certifying that the application is made for the purpose of the government office must be included with your application. Federal employees are not eligible.’ The $52.00 is the same figure the SOS application page gives (‘The filing fee is $52.’) and the same figure the September 2025 handbook calls ’the statutory $52.00’, so agency page, fee table and handbook agree – there is no code-versus-form divergence here. The handbook adds one optional charge: ‘Applicants have the option to voluntarily pay for expedited services at an additional charge’ (the amount of the expedite charge is not published on the notary pages and was not sourced). RON/RIN/e-notary registration costs nothing (‘There is no fee to register as an e-Notary’ – SOS e-Notarization page; ‘NO FEE’ printed at the head of Form N-2). The rubber stamp seal is bought from a private vendor at the notary’s own cost and its price is not state-set: ‘Search online or in the yellow pages for “Rubber Stamps” or “Office Supplies” to find a company that makes official seals.’ There is no county recording or county qualification fee – West Virginia commissions are issued and filed entirely at the state level. No fee is published for the General Complaint Form.

How long the commission lasts, and renewing it

  1. W. Va. Code 39-4-20(d): ‘On compliance with this section, the Secretary of State shall issue a commission as a notary public to an applicant for a term of five years.’ The term runs from issuance by the Secretary of State, not from any county filing or oath – the SOS’s step 5 is ‘Receive your commission certificate, valid for five (5) years’ and step 5 adds ‘When you receive your commission certificate, you may begin notarizing documents’, so authority begins at issuance. The exact expiration date is printed on the commission letter and must be reproduced on the seal. Every five years, and it is a fresh application rather than a renewal in the usual sense. Handbook: ‘Notary public commissions are valid for a five-year period. If your commission is about to expire, please note that renewals are not automatic. Every appointment requires a new application to be filed with the Secretary of State. Renewals cannot be processed more than 60 days prior to expiration.’ The SOS calls this a ‘recommission’ and routes it through the same online application and the same $52.00 fee (‘Complete the application online to apply for your initial appointment or to apply for recommission’). One legacy instruction remains on the SOS page for paper filers: ‘Recommission – If you are applying for a recommission and your current commission end date is on or after June 3, 2018, you must use the new notary application with the revision date “Rev. 6/2018” in the upper left box of the application.’ Electronic-notary authorization is renewed with the commission: ‘The commission for electronic notarization runs concurrently with the traditional commission, expiring on the same date. Renewal of an electronic notary registration follows the same process identified above.’ Resignation: ‘If you wish to resign your commission or if you no longer live or work in West Virginia, the law requires you to notify the Secretary of State within thirty days’, and ‘Any resignation of the commission of a notary public also terminates any existing registration as an electronic notary, remote online notary, or remote ink notary.’ None. No continuing education is required to keep or renew a West Virginia notary commission. Sourced negative: the handbook’s ‘Renewal’ section states only that ‘Every appointment requires a new application to be filed with the Secretary of State’ and ‘Renewals cannot be processed more than 60 days prior to expiration’, with no education condition; the recommission route on the SOS application page is the same online application and the same $52.00 fee as an initial appointment; and W. Va. Code 39-4-20(b), which sets the qualifications an applicant ‘must’ meet, contains no continuing-education item. Tiers searched on 2026-08-12: statute (39-4-20, 39-4-21), the September 2025 official handbook (both the traditional ‘Renewal’ and the electronic ‘Renewal’ sections), the SOS application page, the forms-and-fees page, the e-Notarization page and Form N-2. Not read in full: 153 CSR 45, the Secretary of State’s e-notarization legislative rule – so a CE condition buried in that rule for electronic notaries specifically cannot be ruled out from the sources read, though neither the handbook’s electronic-renewal section nor Form N-2 mentions one.

Your seal or stamp

A rubber stamp seal is MANDATORY on every notarization and the state sets its specifications; an embosser is permitted but never a substitute. SOS ‘The Notary Seal’ page, ‘Specifications for the Required Rubber Stamp Seal’: ‘Size: The size must be a rectangle no larger than 1 inch high by 2 1/2 inches wide.’ ‘Border: The seal must have a border.’ ‘Contents: Most notary stamp seals have the West Virginia State Seal on the left, however, this is optional. Every seal must contain the words “Official Seal”, “Notary Public”, “State of West Virginia” and your name, address and commission expiration date.’ ‘Usage: A notary must use the rubber stamp seal on every notarization, usually under the acknowledgement, and the seal must be placed on the document so that the information is legible.’ Ink colour is free: ‘Seals are available in plain and self-inking types. The color of the ink is optional.’ Embossers: ‘The embossed seal is permitted by West Virginia law, but not required. Also, it is not acceptable as a substitute for a rubber stamp seal’, and if used it must read ‘Notary Seal / Your Name / Notary Public / State of West Virginia’. The handbook restates the stamp elements as (1) the words ‘Official Seal,’ ‘Notary Public,’ and ‘State of West Virginia’; (2) your name; (3) your address or the address of your business or affiliation; (4) your commission expiration date; (5) ‘Must have a border and be no larger than 1" x 2.5".’ The Secretary of State does not sell seals: ‘The Secretary of State’s Office does not make or issue stamps.’ NAME OR ADDRESS CHANGE: ‘If you change your legal name or move to a new address, you must file the appropriate change with the Secretary of State within thirty (30) days of the change and have a new seal made reflecting those changes.’ In the gap before the new stamp arrives the handbook permits the old one: ‘you are permitted to continue use of your old stamp. You will simply need to sign your new name on the line for the notary’s signature, then write the words “Commissioned as (insert previous name)”.’ LOSS OR THEFT: ‘The notary public or the notary public’s personal representative or guardian must report the loss or theft of the seal in writing to the Secretary of State within thirty (30) days after loss or theft’ (no fee for the filing). ON EXPIRY: ‘West Virginia Code 39-4-18(a) requires that, on resignation from, or on the expiration of, the notary public’s commission, or on the date set forth in the stamping device, the notary public shall disable the stamping device by destroying, defacing, damaging, erasing or securing it against use in a manner that renders it unusable.’ The registered ELECTRONIC seal is a different object with eight required elements (handbook): the words ‘Official Seal’; the words ’electronic Notary Public’; the words ‘State of West Virginia’; the notary’s name as spelled on the commissioning document; the notary’s address as listed on the commissioning document; the commission expiration date of the electronic notary; an image of the West Virginia Seal; and the commission registration number of the electronic notary.

Keeping a journal

West Virginia recommends a journal but does not require one.

West Virginia does not require a journal for any notarial act, paper or electronic, and says so explicitly. Handbook, ‘Notary Journal’: ‘West Virginia does not require a notary public to keep a journal. However, it is strongly advised to keep a record book of official acts because it provides documentation of the notary’s personal knowledge of the performance of the notarization.’ The handbook then publishes a suggested (not mandatory) format: date of notarial act; type of act performed; type of document involved; name and address of each person whose signature was notarized; signature of each person whose signature was notarized; a ’notes’ section of personal annotations; and an itemized list of fees collected (if any). For electronic acts the same permissive framing applies: ‘Although not required, a notary public who performs an electronic notarial act may keep a chronological journal of those acts that is either a permanently bound book with numbered pages or an electronic journal.’ If an electronic journal is kept, the handbook imposes three conditions: entries may be ‘made, viewed, printed out, and copied only after access is obtained by a procedure that uses a username and a password’; no entry may ‘be deleted or altered in content or sequence by the notary or any other person after a record of the notarization is entered and stored’; and the notary must ‘Have a backup system in place to provide a duplicate record of notarial acts as a precaution in the event of loss of the original record.’ Note the wording trap in the fee statute: W. Va. Code 39-4-30(a) and (b) price ’notarization of each signature and the proper recordation thereof in the journal of notarial acts’ – the statute assumes a journal in the fee provision while the SOS states no journal is required. What IS mandatory is the RON/RIN audio-visual recording, which is a retention duty rather than a journal: 39-4-37(f) requires the recording ‘be retained for a period of at least five years after the recording is made’, and the handbook repeats the five-year rule for both RON and RIN. No source read states who a journal or recording is surrendered to on death or resignation, other than the handbook’s stamp rule that ‘In the event of a notary’s death, the notary’s representative, guardian, or any other person knowingly in possession of the stamp shall render it unusable’ and 39-4-37(f)’s allowance that a guardian, conservator, agent or personal representative may retain the recording or have a designated repository retain it.

Online (remote) notarization

West Virginia authorizes remote online notarization, and it requires a registration separate from your commission.

Remote online notarization is authorized by W. Va. Code 39-4-37, ‘Remote online notarial act performed for remotely located individual’, and requires a separate no-fee registration with the Secretary of State before the first remote act. The registration trigger is in 39-4-37(g): ‘Before a notary public performs the notary public’s initial notarial act under this section, the notary public shall notify the Secretary of State that the notary public will be performing notarial acts with respect to remotely located individuals and identify the technologies the notary public intends to use.’ The vehicle is Form N-2, ‘West Virginia Electronic Signature Verification Authorization’ (Rev. 7/2021), whose checkbox group is ‘Select the type of electronic signature verification services that are to be provided: (Select one or more options) [ ] E-Notary [ ] Remote Online Notarization [ ] Remote Ink Notarization: Platforms using (list all)’ – one form, no fee, covering all three electronic modes. Form N-2 is emphatic that authorization must arrive first: ‘YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO PERFORM ELECTRONIC NOTARIAL ACTS (AS WELL AS REMOTE ONLINE NOTARY and REMOTE INK NOTARIZATION) UNTIL THIS AUTHORIZATION APPLICATION IS FILED WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE SECRETARY OF STATE LETTER OF AUTHORIZATION APPROVING YOUR REGISTRATION.’ Identification under 39-4-37(c)(1) is by personal knowledge, a credible witness’s oath or affirmation, or ‘satisfactory evidence of the identity of the remotely located individual by using at least two different types of identity proofing’. 39-4-37(c)(3) requires that ‘The notary public, or a person acting on behalf of the notary public, creates an audio-visual recording of the performance of the notarial act’, retained at least five years (39-4-37(f)). The certificate must disclose the method: 39-4-37(e)(2) accepts a statement substantially as ‘This notarial act involved the use of communication technology’. For a signer OUTSIDE the United States there is an extra layer – 39-4-37(c)(4) requires that the notary ‘is commissioned as an Out-of-State Commissioner pursuant to 39-4A-1 et seq.’ AND that the record either ‘Is to be filed with or relates to a matter before a public official or court, governmental entity, or other entity subject to the jurisdiction of West Virginia’ or ‘Involves property located in or a transaction substantially connected with West Virginia.’ TECHNOLOGY: the notary chooses the vendor, and the state does not certify one – the SOS e-Notarization page publishes a courtesy list (DocuSign, World Wide Notary, Simply Secure Sign, Notarize, Corporate Service Company (CSC), Epic River, OneNotary, Nationwide Title Clearing, Clear Sign, Snapdocs, OnlineNotary.us, Secured Signing, Stavvy.com, OneSpan North America Inc., Simplifile, EscrowTab, Pavaso, NotaryLive, BlueNotary) under the express disclaimer that ‘The following list of vendors is not exhaustive and is provided only for informational convenience and as a courtesy. Inclusion does not reflect any endorsement or confirmation of technology requirements. e-Notary applicants are responsible for ensuring the technology selected satisfies the requirements.’ The technology ‘must meet the requirements set forth in West Virginia 153 CSR 45’. Changing vendors requires a new N-2 before further electronic acts, and the SOS must be notified within ten days of any change to the application data. WEST VIRGINIA ALSO AUTHORIZES REMOTE INK NOTARIZATION (RIN), which most states do not: the handbook describes it as ‘a hybrid’ where ‘The signer then signs a paper document while communicating simultaneously with the notary public online using audio-visual technology. Unlike RON, for a RIN transaction the document is mailed or forwarded to the notary for notarization’, with the same five-year audio-visual retention. The three modes are distinct and the handbook names them separately: E-Notary/IPEN (signer physically present, electronic document), RON (signer remote, electronic document), RIN (signer remote, paper document mailed to the notary).

What you may charge

$10.00 maximum per act, with three parallel caps rather than one. W. Va. Code 39-4-30: ‘(a) The maximum fee in this state for notarization of each signature and the proper recordation thereof in the journal of notarial acts is $10.00 for each signature notarized. (b) The maximum fee in this state for certification of a facsimile of a document, retaining a facsimile in the notary’s file, and the proper recordation thereof in the journal of notarial acts is $10.00 for each eight and one-half by eleven inch page retained in the notary’s file. (c) The maximum fee in this state is $10.00 for any other notarial act performed.’ The September 2025 handbook repeats all three in its ‘Fees’ section and lists ‘Do not charge more than the $10.00 maximum fee for each notarized signature’ among its liability guidelines; exceeding the cap is a disciplinary ground under 39-4-21(a)(10), ‘Charging more than the maximum fees specified in section thirty of this article’. Note that the cap is per SIGNATURE, not per document – a document with three signers can carry three $10.00 charges. The statute sets no separate or higher cap for electronic, RON or RIN acts; 39-4-30(c)’s catch-all ‘$10.00 for any other notarial act performed’ is the only provision reaching them. TRAVEL FEES: not addressed. No provision authorizing, capping or prohibiting a separate travel or mileage charge appears in 39-4-30, in the handbook’s ‘Fees’ section, or on any SOS notary page; tiers searched on 2026-08-12 were the statute (39-4-30 via the October 18, 2025 Internet Archive capture), the September 2025 handbook, the SOS application page, the forms-and-fees page and the e-Notarization page. Government notaries keep nothing: 39-4-31(d), ‘All fees received for notarial services by a government notary public appointed for and in behalf of a state or local government office shall be remitted by him or her to the state or local government office in which he or she is employed.’

Who does NOT need a commission — exemptions

Two categories are visible in the sources read, and one is a commission type rather than an exemption. (1) GOVERNMENT NOTARIES are not exempt from being commissioned – W. Va. Code 39-4-31(b) requires a state or local government employee to ‘meet the requirements for qualification and appointment prescribed in this article’, with the only difference being that the head of the office certifies the application is ‘made for the purposes of the office and in the public interest’ and the $52.00 fee is waived; 39-4-31(f) then limits them, ‘a government notary public may not operate privately.’ Federal employees are not eligible for that route (SOS fee page). (2) ACTS THAT DO NOT GO TO A NOTARY: the handbook removes two categories from notary practice outright. Certified copies of vital and public records – ‘if a certified copy can be obtained from an officer in West Virginia (e.g. birth certificate, marriage certificate, death certificate, deed, will, or license), a notary is not authorized to certify a copy’; and depositions – ‘West Virginia law requires all depositions to be attested by a certified court reporter.’ A notary also may not notarize where the notary or the notary’s spouse has a direct or indirect beneficial interest, for immediate family where money or property may pass to the notary, or where the notary is the attorney who prepared the document and holds a beneficial interest – ‘in such cases, a third party must perform the notarization.’ NOT SOURCED: whether West Virginia designates any ex officio notarial officers (county commission clerks, circuit clerks, judges, justices of the peace) who may take acknowledgments without a notary commission. The definition section W. Va. Code 39-4-2 and W. Va. Code chapter 39 article 1 (acknowledgment of writings) would answer this; neither could be retrieved on 2026-08-12 because code.wvlegislature.gov 302-redirects every automated request to an unrelated host and the Internet Archive holds no snapshot of either section. Tiers searched: statute (39-4-2 and 39-1-2 attempted and unavailable; 39-4-20, 39-4-21, 39-4-30, 39-4-31, 39-4-37 read via Internet Archive), the September 2025 handbook cover to cover, the SOS application, seal, fees and e-Notarization pages, and Form N-2. Likewise NOT addressed by any West Virginia source read: military notarial authority under 10 U.S.C. 1044a. This record therefore makes no claim about ex officio officers or military officers in West Virginia.

How to apply

Applications are handled by West Virginia Secretary of State, Licensing Division (Notary Division). Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in West Virginia

West Virginia Secretary of State (Enterprise Registration & Licensing System) publishes a public license search , searchable by First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Suffix, Notary ID, Filing Date, Status (Active / Expired / Resigned / Revoked / Suspended), City, State or County. It covers Commissioned West Virginia notaries public, searchable by name or Notary ID with advanced filters for county, city, filing date and commission status. The status dropdown exposes Active, Expired, Resigned, Revoked and Suspended, so the portal shows discipline and lapse, not merely current good standing.

Records come from West Virginia Secretary of State (Enterprise Registration & Licensing System)’s own system. LicensingAtlas does not hold license records and cannot confirm any individual’s status — the date on this page refers to the requirements described above, not to anyone’s credential.