State Notary Agent®
The Florida Notary Public Directory
A Florida notary commission runs four years from the date of issue. Renewal is not automatic and the state does not guarantee a reminder.
Begin roughly 90 days before expiration. That leaves room for the bond, any required education, processing, and delivery of a new seal without a gap in your authority to notarize.
You can confirm your own expiration date in this register or through the Department of State.
Renewal broadly mirrors the original application: a new $7,500 surety bond for the new four-year term under §117.01(6), a renewal application filed with the Department of State, the filing fee, and a new seal reflecting the new commission number and expiration date.
Education obligations differ between first-time applicants and renewing notaries. Confirm your current requirement rather than assuming it carries over.
There is no grace period. Once the commission expires you are not a notary, and any notarization performed after that date is invalid.
A lapse means reapplying as a new notary rather than renewing — which may pull in first-time education requirements.
The expensive part: a lapsed commission also terminates your Remote Online Notary registration. RON registration expires on the same day as the underlying commission regardless of when it was filed. Restoring RON means redoing the course, the separate $25,000 RON bond, the $25,000 E&O, and the registration from scratch.
Because RON registration inherits the commission's expiration date, registering for RON late in a commission term buys you only the remainder of that term.
If you plan to offer remote online notarization, it is usually worth renewing the underlying commission first, so the RON registration rides a fresh four-year term instead of expiring in a few months.
File a renewal application with the Florida Department of State, obtain a new $7,500 surety bond for the new four-year term, pay the filing fee, and get a new seal showing the new commission number and expiration date. Start about 90 days before expiration.
There is no grace period. You are no longer a notary and any notarization performed after expiration is invalid. You must reapply as a new notary rather than renew, which may trigger first-time education requirements.
Yes. A Florida Remote Online Notary registration expires on the same day as the underlying notary commission, regardless of when the RON registration was filed. There is no grace period, and restoring it requires redoing the course, the $25,000 RON bond, the E&O coverage, and the registration.
Four years from the date of issue.
Often yes. Because RON registration inherits the commission's expiration date, registering late in a term gives you only the remaining months. Renewing the commission first lets the RON registration ride a fresh four-year term.
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