Colorado Notary Exam Notary Journal and Record Keeping 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Colorado law, how long must a notary retain their journal after the date of the last entry?
- 5 years
- 7 years
- 10 years (Correct answer)
- 15 years
Correct answer: 10 years
Colorado law requires notaries to retain their journal for 10 years after the date of the last notarial act recorded in it.
Question 2: A Colorado notary loses their journal. What is the required next step?
- Purchase a new journal immediately and continue notarizing
- Notify the Colorado Secretary of State within 10 days (Correct answer)
- File a police report and take no further action
- Suspend all notarial acts until a replacement is found
Correct answer: Notify the Colorado Secretary of State within 10 days
Colorado law requires a notary to notify the Secretary of State within 10 days if their journal is lost, stolen, or destroyed.
Question 3: Which of the following is NOT a required entry in a Colorado notary journal?
- Date and time of the notarial act
- The signer's Social Security Number (Correct answer)
- Type of notarial act performed
- How the signer's identity was verified
Correct answer: The signer's Social Security Number
A signer's Social Security Number is never required in a notary journal; collecting it would be a privacy violation.
Question 4: A signer requests to review the entries in a Colorado notary's journal related to their own transaction. What should the notary do?
- Refuse — the journal is always confidential
- Allow the signer to view only their own entry (Correct answer)
- Allow unrestricted access to the entire journal
- Require a court order before any disclosure
Correct answer: Allow the signer to view only their own entry
Colorado allows a signer to inspect their own journal entry, but the notary must protect other entries from unauthorized disclosure.
Question 5: What type of physical journal format does Colorado require for traditional (paper) notarial records?
- A three-ring binder with replaceable pages
- A permanently bound book with sequential page numbers (Correct answer)
- Any notebook the notary chooses
- A government-issued pre-printed form booklet
Correct answer: A permanently bound book with sequential page numbers
Colorado requires a permanently bound journal with numbered pages to prevent tampering or removal of entries.
Question 6: A Colorado notary performs a Remote Online Notarization (RON). Which additional item must be recorded in the journal compared to an in-person act?
- The signer's IP address
- The communication technology platform used (Correct answer)
- The signer's notarized document in full
- The notary's electronic seal serial number
Correct answer: The communication technology platform used
For RON acts, Colorado requires the journal to include the communication technology used to conduct the notarization.
Question 7: A Colorado notary's commission expires. What must happen to the journal?
- Submit it to the Secretary of State immediately
- Destroy it to protect signer privacy
- Retain it personally for the remainder of the 10-year period (Correct answer)
- Transfer it to another active notary
Correct answer: Retain it personally for the remainder of the 10-year period
Even after a commission expires, the notary must personally retain the journal for the full 10-year period following the last entry.
Colorado Notary Exam Notary Journal and Record Keeping 2
Under Colorado law, how long must a notary retain their journal after the date of the last entry?