Washington sets a maximum price for each notarial act. Anything charged on top of that has rules attached, so it is worth knowing what those are before you book.
The state sets the ceiling
Washington caps what a notary public may charge for each notarial act. Under WAC 308-30-220 the maximum is $15.00 for each of the acts a notary normally performs: witnessing or attesting a signature, taking an acknowledgment, taking a verification on oath or affirmation, certifying or attesting a copy, administering an oath, and certifying that an event has occurred.
A remote notarial act is capped separately at $25.00. That is a signing completed over a recorded video session.
So a notary in Tacoma cannot charge you $40 to notarize one signature. And if you are quoted around a hundred dollars for a single document, that is the notarial fee plus something else. You are entitled to ask what the something else is.
Fees are per act, not per document
This is the part that surprises people. The cap applies to each notarial act, not to each piece of paper. A document with one signature that needs one acknowledgment is one act. A document signed by two people, each needing an acknowledgment, is two acts. A packet containing four separate notarized certificates is four acts.
So a single-page power of attorney signed by one person is $15. A refinance package with six notarized signatures is six acts, and the arithmetic follows from there. Anyone quoting you a price should be able to tell you how many acts they are counting and why.
Travel fees are legal, with conditions
Washington does allow a mobile notary to charge for travel, but the rule is specific. A travel fee is permitted only if two things are true. First, the notary and the person requesting the act agree on the travel fee in advance of the travel. Second, the notary explains that the travel fee is in addition to the notarial fee and is not required by law.
In practice that means a travel fee should never appear for the first time at your kitchen table, or on an invoice after the signing. It is also not a government charge. It is the notary’s own fee for driving to you, which makes it negotiable in a way the $15 is not.
Ask this: “Is the travel fee agreed before you travel, and is it separate from the notarial fee?” Washington requires a yes to both. A notary who cannot answer clearly is not following the rule.
What else can appear on the bill
Beyond the notarial fee and an agreed travel fee, a notary may charge the actual cost of copying a record. That is it. There is no legitimate “document review fee”, no “certificate selection fee”, a notary is not permitted to help you choose which certificate to use in the first place, and no charge for noting a protest of a negotiable instrument, which the rule prohibits outright.
Questions worth asking before you book
- How many notarial acts do you count in my document, and why?
- What is the travel fee to my address, and is it confirmed before you set out?
- Is the total you have quoted me the total, or are there conditions that could change it?
- If a signer’s ID turns out to be unacceptable and the signing cannot proceed, what do I owe?
Any notary should be able to answer each of those in a sentence.
How we handle it
Our notarial fees are the state maximums, published on the pricing page rather than quoted on request: $15 per traditional or electronic in-person act, $25 per remote online act. Travel is quoted by distance before the appointment is confirmed, in writing, as a separate line. You will know the full total before anyone gets in a car.