2021 New Jersey Revised Statutes
Title 52 - State Government, Departments and Officers
Section 52:7-10.18 - Journal.
52:7-10.18 Journal.
27. Journal.
a. A notary public shall maintain a journal of all notarial acts performed.
(1) The journal may be created and maintained on a tangible medium or in an electronic format.
(2) A notary public shall maintain only one journal at a time to chronicle all notarial acts, whether those notarial acts are performed regarding tangible or electronic records.
(3) If the journal is maintained on a tangible medium, it shall be a permanent, bound register with consecutively numbered lines and consecutively numbered pages.
(4) If the journal is maintained in an electronic format, it shall be in a permanent, tamper-evident electronic format complying with any rules and regulations promulgated by the State Treasurer.
b. For each notarial act, the notary public shall record in the journal:
(1) the date and time of the notarial act;
(2) the type of notarial act, including but not limited to the taking of an acknowledgment, the taking of a proof of a deed, the administration of an oath, or the taking of an affidavit;
(3) the name and address of each person for whom the notarial act is performed;
(4) if the identity of the individual is based on personal knowledge, a statement to that effect;
(5) if the identity of the individual is based on satisfactory evidence, a brief description of the method of identification and the identification credential presented, if any, including, if applicable, the type, date of issuance, and date of expiration of an identification document, or the name and signature of any identifying witness and, if applicable, the type, date of issuance, and date of expiration of a document identifying the witness; and
(6) an itemized list of all fees charged for the notarial act.
c. If a notary public's journal is lost or stolen, the notary public shall notify the State Treasurer within 10 days of the loss or theft.
d. The notary public shall either:
(1) retain the journal for 10 years after the performance of the last notarial act chronicled in the journal; or
(2) transmit the journal to the Department of the Treasury, Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services, or a repository approved by the State Treasurer.
e. On resignation from, or the revocation or suspension of, a notary public's commission, the notary public shall either:
(1) retain the journal in accordance with paragraph (1) of subsection d. of this section and inform the State Treasurer where the journal is located; or
(2) transmit the journal to the Department of the Treasury, Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services, or a repository approved by the State Treasurer.
f. On the death or adjudication of incompetency of a current or former notary public, the notary public's personal representative or guardian or any other person knowingly in possession of the journal shall, within 45 days, transmit it to the Department of the Treasury, Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services, or a repository approved by the State Treasurer.
g. In lieu of maintaining a journal, a notary public who is an attorney-at-law admitted to practice in this State, or who is employed by an attorney-at-law, or who is employed by or acting as an agent for a title insurance company licensed to do business in this State pursuant to P.L.2001, c.210 (C.17:22A-26 et seq.), may maintain a record of notarial acts in the form of files regularly maintained for the attorney's law practice or the title insurance company's business activities, as the case may be.
L.2021, c.179, s.27.
