Disclaimer

Not a law firm, and no legal advice

Addison Notary is a notary public service. Gwen is commissioned by the State of Texas as a notary public and as an online notary public. This is not a law firm, it does not provide legal services, and it cannot represent you before any court, agency or immigration authority.

In many Spanish-speaking countries the equivalent office is held by a fully qualified lawyer who does draft documents and does give advice. Texas does not work that way, and the difference matters. A Texas notary public is an impartial witness to signatures. Nothing more, and nothing less.

What a notary actually verifies

In a notarial act, Gwen verifies three things:

• The identity of the person signing, from unexpired government-issued photo ID.
• That the person is signing willingly and understands that they are signing.
• That the signature was made, or acknowledged, before her.

What a notarization does not say matters just as much. The seal does not certify that the contents of the document are true, that the document is lawful, that it will do what you want, or that signing it is a good idea. A notarized document can be procedurally flawless and completely wrong for your situation.

We do not prepare or advise on documents

We notarize documents you bring. We do not prepare, draft, select, complete or advise on documents. We cannot tell you which form you need, what to write in a blank, or whether a power of attorney gives your brother the authority you think it does. Doing so would be the unauthorised practice of law, and it would put you at risk as well as us.

We can explain what an acknowledgment is and what a jurat is, what ID is accepted, and how an online session works. That is information about the process, not about your document.

No guarantee your document will be accepted

The recipient decides whether to accept a document: a county land records office, a bank, an insurer, a foreign consulate, a court. Each has its own requirements about format, witnesses, certificate wording and electronic signatures. An act performed correctly under Texas law does not oblige anyone to accept the result. Confirm the requirements with the recipient before your appointment.

The informational content on this site

The pages on this site, including the journal articles, are general information about Texas law and about how notarial work operates. They are not advice about your particular situation, and reading them creates no professional relationship.

Law changes and pages age. A concrete example: the Texas Secretary of State is required to adjust the § 406.024 maximums for inflation every five years, and the next adjustment is expected around 2028. When it happens, the figures published here will be out of date until we update them. That is why every page carries a last-updated date.

Things a Texas notary cannot do

We cannot issue an apostille

Only the Texas Secretary of State can issue an apostille or an authentication certificate for a Texas document. No private service can. We can notarize the document you then send to the State, and we can explain the route, but the apostille itself is issued by the State and its fee is paid to the State.

We cannot officiate a wedding

Unlike Florida, Nevada, Maine, South Carolina, Tennessee and Montana, Texas does not authorize a notary public to perform marriages. Under Texas Family Code § 2.202, only a licensed or ordained minister or priest, a rabbi, an authorized officer of a religious organization, or a current, former or retired federal or state judge may officiate.

We cannot certify copies of vital records

Birth, death and marriage certificates cannot be copy-certified by a Texas notary. A certified copy comes from the vital records office that issued the original. We can certify copies of other documents, such as diplomas or powers of attorney.

The limits of online notarization

Remote notarization has been legal in Texas since 2018, but it does not cover everything. Wills, codicils and testamentary trusts are excluded and must be signed in person. Identity proofing can fail, and if it does we are not permitted to continue online. And some recipients will not accept electronically signed documents even where Texas law allows them. The whole session is audio-video recorded and that recording is retained for five years, as the law requires.

When you should talk to a licensed Texas attorney instead

Book us for the notarization, but speak to a licensed Texas attorney first if:

• You are not sure which document you need, or whether the one you have does the job.
• The document distributes property, creates a trust, or affects an estate.
• It is a power of attorney and you want to understand exactly what authority you are granting.
• There is a dispute, a lawsuit or a court deadline involved.
• The matter is an immigration matter. A Texas notary cannot represent you or complete immigration forms for you.
• Somebody is pressing you to sign, or you are not confident you understand what you are signing.
• The document has tax, corporate or real-estate consequences nobody has explained to you.

If you ask us any of these, we will tell you the same thing this page does. That is not evasiveness: it is the line Texas law requires us to hold, and holding it is what protects you.

Contact

• Email: contact@addisonnotary.com
• Phone or text: (469) 993-1226
• Request an appointment

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