Online Notary (RON): Sign From Anywhere

Remote online notarization (RON) lets you get a document notarized over a secure video session instead of in a room. Texas was early to it: online notarization has been legal here since 19 August 2018, under Chapter 406, Subchapter C of the Texas Government Code and the Secretary of State's rules in 1 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 87. Gwen holds both a traditional Texas notary public commission and a separate Texas online notary public commission, which is the order the law requires: you cannot be an online notary in Texas without already holding a standard commission.

Who this is for

• You are traveling, deployed, living in another state or abroad. For an online session the signer can be anywhere.
• You are in Texas but hours from Addison (Houston, El Paso, the Valley) and there is no reason to pay anyone to drive.
• Two signers are in two different places and the document needs both.
• You need it soon, and a video session needs no travel at all.

If you are inside our driving radius and the document is straightforward, an in-person mobile appointment is often the calmer choice. We will say so if it is.

The one thing you must know first

Wills, codicils and testamentary trusts cannot be notarized remotely in Texas. Texas law specifically excludes those documents from remote and electronic notarization, and they have to be signed in person, on paper, with the notary physically present. If your document is a will, a codicil amending a will, or a trust created inside a will, stop here and book an in-person estate document signing instead. There is no workaround, and any service that offers you one is wrong.

Exactly what happens

1. You send the document ahead. It has to be complete and unsigned, uploaded as a PDF to the approved platform we use.
2. Identity proofing. The platform runs your government photo ID through automated credential analysis to confirm the ID itself is genuine and unaltered.
3. Knowledge-based authentication. You answer a short set of personal-history questions generated from public and commercial data, the sort of thing only you would know. This is a pass-or-fail step set by rule, not by us.
4. The video session. You and Gwen meet live, with audio and video both running. She confirms you are the person on the ID, that you understand the document, and that you are signing willingly.
5. You sign electronically. Gwen attaches her electronic seal and her signature, secured with the x.509 digital certificate her online commission requires, so any later tampering with the document is detectable.
6. You get the signed document back the same session, and the notarial act is entered in her electronic record book.

The recording, and why it exists

The entire session is audio-video recorded, and Texas requires the online notary to retain that recording for five years. It is stored securely, and it is your protection as much as anyone's: if someone later claims you did not sign, or were pressured into it, there is a record of exactly what happened. You should know it exists before you start, not after.

What you need ready

• An unexpired government photo ID: the platform will scan it, so the physical card must be in your hand.
• The document as a PDF, with every blank already filled in by you except the signature, and not yet signed: you sign it during the session, in front of Gwen.
• Any accompanying documents: exhibits, attachments, and any instruction sheet from the party that will receive it.
• A device with a working camera and microphone, and a connection steady enough to hold video. A laptop is easier than a phone for reading what you are signing.
• A quiet, private place. Nobody should be off-camera coaching you.
• Any witnesses your document requires: we do not provide witnesses, so you arrange your own in advance. They can join a remote session, and each of them goes through the same identity checks you do.

What it costs

Texas caps this. An online notary public may charge up to $25 per online notarization under Texas Government Code § 406.111, and that is in addition to the fee for the notarial act itself under § 406.024. So a single signature notarized online is at most $10 plus $25: $35 in state-permitted fees. There is no travel fee, because there is no travel.

State notarial fees are set by Texas Government Code § 406.024 and § 406.111. Travel and convenience fees are separate and are not notarial fees.

Where this works

For an online session, you, the signer, can be anywhere: in Texas, in another state or outside the United States (Tex. Gov't Code § 406.110(a)). Gwen is always physically in Texas when she performs the notarization (1 Tex. Admin. Code § 87.41(b)). For an in-person appointment it is the other way round: you must be physically in Texas when you sign, but you can live in any state. Whether the receiving party accepts a remotely notarized document is their call, not ours. If a county clerk, a lender or a foreign government has told you it must be wet-signed, believe them and book an in-person appointment.

What we do NOT do

We notarize documents you provide; we do not prepare, draft, select or advise on documents. Gwen is a commissioned Texas notary public, not an attorney. She cannot give legal advice, cannot tell you which document you need, and cannot tell you how to fill out your paperwork or what to write in it. She also cannot tell you whether remote notarization is the right choice for your particular document. Ask the party who will receive it, or an attorney licensed in Texas.

Start a session

Send us the document type and your time zone and we will tell you honestly whether online is the right route, or whether coming to you serves you better. Request an online session.