MS Notary Record-Keeping and Reporting 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Mississippi notary resigns their commission. What must happen to the journal?
- It must be burned to protect signer privacy
- It must be mailed to the Governor
- It must be retained for the required period or transmitted to an approved repository (Correct answer)
- It must be handed to the notary's employer permanently
Correct answer: It must be retained for the required period or transmitted to an approved repository
On resignation or revocation, the journal must still be retained for the retention period or deposited with an approved repository.
Question 2: A Mississippi notary performs notarizations on electronic records. How may those acts be journaled?
- In an electronic journal that is a permanent, tamper-evident record (Correct answer)
- In a shared spreadsheet editable by coworkers
- Only on loose printed sheets
- No journal is needed for electronic acts
Correct answer: In an electronic journal that is a permanent, tamper-evident record
Electronic journal entries are permitted if the journal is a permanent, tamper-evident electronic record.
Question 3: A title company asks to keep the journal of a Mississippi notary employee after she quits. Who owns the journal?
- The Secretary of State immediately upon resignation
- The signers whose acts appear in it
- The notary, because the journal is the notary's own record (Correct answer)
- The employer, because it paid for the commission
Correct answer: The notary, because the journal is the notary's own record
The journal belongs to the notary personally, not to any employer, even one that paid commissioning costs.
Question 4: Which of these belongs in a Mississippi journal entry's description field?
- The notary's opinion of the transaction's fairness
- The full text of the notarized document
- The signer's bank account details
- A brief description of the record and the type of notarial act performed (Correct answer)
Correct answer: A brief description of the record and the type of notarial act performed
The entry must identify the type of notarial act and briefly describe the record involved.
Question 5: A Mississippi notary charges $5 for an acknowledgment. Where should this fee be documented?
- In a letter to the county clerk
- Only on the notary's tax return
- Nowhere, since fees are private
- In the journal entry for that notarial act (Correct answer)
Correct answer: In the journal entry for that notarial act
The fee charged, if any, is a required element of the journal entry.
Question 6: Why should a Mississippi notary avoid leaving blank lines between journal entries?
- Ink fades faster on empty lines
- Blank lines make the journal too heavy
- Gaps could allow fraudulent entries to be inserted later (Correct answer)
- The Secretary of State charges per page
Correct answer: Gaps could allow fraudulent entries to be inserted later
Sequential entries without gaps prevent someone from inserting backdated or fraudulent entries.
Question 7: A tangible journal used by a Mississippi notary should have which physical feature?
- Pencil-friendly erasable paper
- Detachable carbon copies for signers
- Removable loose-leaf pages
- A permanent binding with numbered pages (Correct answer)
Correct answer: A permanent binding with numbered pages
A permanently bound journal with numbered pages deters page removal and entry tampering.
MS Notary Record-Keeping and Reporting 3
A Mississippi notary resigns their commission.
What must happen to the journal?