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December 12, 2013

How Do I Find a Local Notary Public?

We are frequently asked the question: how do I find a public notary in my city or town? 

A notary public serves as an impartial witness to perform notarial acts as allowed or required by law. In Wisconsin, individuals who are a public notary are overseen by the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (WDFI ). Other states' notaries are frequently overseen by the Secretary of State in that state. 
""Notarial act" means any act that a notary public of this state is authorized to perform, and includes taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification upon oath or affirmation, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy, and noting a protest of a negotiable instrument." - Wisconsin Statute 707.07(1)(c) 

On our Notaries legal topic page we link to the notary public search hosted at the WDFI's site: Notary Public Search. However, a search for all notaries in Madison Wisconsin returns too many results to display. Try plugging in a zip code to whittle the results down enough to return a list. Check for the business affiliation listed next to a notary's name to help you uncover contact information for the notary.

Find a Wisconsin notary located in other state by putting the abbreviation for the state in the Notary Public Search.

A notary public can also be found by doing a web search or looking in a phone book or similar online directory. Frequently banks will provide a notary service to their customers. You may wish to call ahead to find out the availability of notary services and any fees.

If you need court forms notarized, the clerk of court can notarize court documents.

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