SECURE Notarization Act Mandates Video Recording for Remote Signings, Standardizing Digital Documents Nationwide

The aptly named SECURE Notarization Act of 2025 is a massive upgrade for anyone who has ever had to skip work, find a babysitter, and fight traffic just to get a signature witnessed. This bill establishes federal rules that allow notaries public to perform notarizations electronically and remotely—meaning over a video call—for any transaction that crosses state lines. Think buying a house, signing a major business contract, or refinancing a loan. It’s all about dragging the legal paperwork process into the digital age.

The End of the In-Person Hustle

Section 4 is the heart of the matter, authorizing remote notarization for people who are physically elsewhere. If you’re signing a document remotely, you must appear before the notary at that exact moment using communication technology (like a secure video link). To combat fraud, the identity verification process is strict: the notary must use personal knowledge or rely on "satisfactory evidence," which means using at least two different third-party verification methods that check public or private data sources. This means the days of easily faking a signature on a major document should get a lot harder, but it also means the technology used to verify your identity has to be rock-solid. If the tech fails, the whole process stalls.

The Catch: Everything is on Tape

Here’s where the convenience meets the compliance: every single remote notarization must be audio and video recorded from start to finish (Sec. 4). This recording becomes part of the official record, and the notary (or their successor) must retain it for the longer of five years, ten years, or whatever their state requires. For us, this means greater transparency and accountability—you can’t argue later about what happened on the call. But for notaries, this creates a huge new data security and storage burden. They are now holding onto sensitive personal video footage of potentially thousands of customers for up to a decade. That’s a significant liability that small-time notaries will have to figure out how to manage securely.

Your Document is Valid, Everywhere

One of the biggest real-world headaches this bill solves is the patchwork of state laws. Sections 5 and 6 mandate that federal courts and every state must recognize a notarization performed in another state as valid, provided it followed either the home state’s rules or the new federal standards. If you’re a traveling professional or military personnel, this is huge: you can sign a document for a property closing in State A while you’re physically located in State B, and State A’s court can’t reject it just because the notary wasn’t local. This standardization cuts down on legal friction and streamlines interstate commerce.

Cracking Down on the 'Notarios'

Section 10 includes a crucial consumer protection measure: it cracks down on false advertising by notaries, especially those who prey on vulnerable communities. Notaries are explicitly forbidden from using the Spanish terms “notario” or “notario publico,” or claiming they can give legal advice or act as an immigration consultant. This provision directly addresses a long-standing issue where unscrupulous notaries mislead people into thinking they are qualified lawyers or immigration experts. If a notary violates this, they are engaging in false or deceptive advertising.

The Bottom Line for Busy People

This Act modernizes document signing, making it faster and more accessible for major transactions. However, it’s a federal baseline, and Section 10 confirms that states can still set higher standards or require notaries to get special certification before they can perform these remote acts. If you are a notary, you can’t be forced to adopt remote technology if you don’t want to (Sec. 7), but if you do, be ready to become a data security expert overnight. For the rest of us, it means less hassle getting documents signed, but we should be aware that our remote signing sessions are being recorded and stored for a very long time.