LowellDeeds

The governor's office has issued some clarifications of Executive Order 455 (regarding Notaries Public). The effective date of the order has been pushed back to April 19, 2004. This "clarification" reiterates the requirement that all notaries must have a seal or stamp that contains the notary's name, the words "notary public" and either "Massachusetts" or "Commonwealth of Massachusetts." It must also have the expiration date of the notary's commission and a facsimile of the great seal of Massachusetts. If your current seal has everything but your name and expiration date, you may still use it but only if you get a separate stamp that has those two things on it in which case you'd have to use both your original seal and this new stamp. The requirement that a journal be maintained continues. The journal must be a bound book with sequentially numbered pages although if the entries are sequentially numbered, that will meet this requirement. Finally, while the original order said to be a notary, you must reside in the Commonwealth, the order will be modified to continue to allow people who live outside the state but who conduct business within Massachusetts to serve as notaries.