Your First Mobile Notary Appointment: What to Expect

A mobile notary appointment is simpler than most people expect. I come to you — your home, office, hospital, or wherever the signing needs to happen — with everything required to complete the notarization on the spot.

Here's exactly what to have ready.

Valid government-issued ID

This is non-negotiable. Florida notary law requires that I verify your identity before notarizing anything. An expired driver's license doesn't work. A photo from your phone doesn't work. A library card doesn't work.

Acceptable IDs: Florida driver's license or state ID, U.S. passport, U.S. military ID, permanent resident card, or a foreign passport if it has a photo and identifying information. If your ID is about to expire or you've recently changed your name and your ID doesn't match, tell me before the appointment — we can sometimes work around it with additional documentation, but I need to know in advance.

Don't sign anything before I arrive

This is the one I mention most often. If you sign the document before the appointment, I can't notarize it — the whole point of notarization is that I witness you signing. If you've already signed, I'll ask you to re-sign, and that only works if there's space on the form for it and the receiving party will accept it.

If you're not sure whether to sign: wait. Bring me the blank document. We'll sign together.

Know what you need notarized

I can't advise you on whether a document needs to be notarized, what type of notarization is required (acknowledgment vs. jurat), or what the document means legally. That's the attorney's job, not the notary's.

What I need from you: tell me what you're signing and what it's for. "Power of attorney that my mom's attorney drafted" or "affidavit for a court case in Miami" gives me enough to come prepared with the right notarial certificate language. "Some legal stuff" makes the appointment slower.

Witnesses

Some documents require witnesses in addition to a notary — wills and durable powers of attorney in Florida being the most common. If you need witnesses, either arrange them in advance (they need to be present at signing, not related to the transaction, and able to show ID) or let me know when you book. I can bring witnesses for an additional fee.

What happens at the appointment

I'll review the document briefly, confirm the type of notarization required, check your ID, watch you sign, and then complete the notarial certificate and apply my seal. For simple documents, this takes 10–15 minutes. For larger packages, longer.

I'll keep a journal entry of the notarization as required by Florida law. I won't keep a copy of your document unless you ask me to.

Booking

Mobile notary fees start at $15 per visit plus a travel fee based on distance from West Palm Beach. Same-day and after-hours appointments are often available. Use the quote calculator on the site for an instant estimate, or contact me directly.