Commission Number vs. Serial Number vs. Notary ID Number

The current Statuory Short Forms of Acknowledgment set forth in section 695.25 of the Florida Statutes requires that the officer taking the acknowledgment affix his name, title/rank, and "serial number" underneath his signature. Florida notaries do not have a "serial number". However, there are two identifying numbers attached to notaries - the commission number and the Notary I.D. number.

Each time a notary renews their commission, they receive a new "commission number". The commission number actually refers to the serial number of the notary's commission certificate. Each certificate gets one commission number. Hence, when a notary amends their commission due to a name change, they are required to return their original, which is voided and replaced with a new commission, with a new commission number. The only time a commission number is repeated on another certificate is if the original certificate has been lost. The commission number is required to appear on the notary's official stamp seal.

The Department of State also assigns each notary a "Notary I.D. Number". Whereas the commission number refers to the actual commission certificate, the "Notary I.D." refers to the notary. Therefore, when renewing your commission, your "Notary I.D." number will remain the same each time. The Notary I.D. is assigned mostly to enable the Governor's office to easily keep track of notaries through their state database. It is not required on the official seal.

The question of what constitutes a "serial number" for the purposes of short form acknowledgment certificates has not been addressed by the governor's office. Does "serial number" refer to the identifying number of the notary, or the notary's commission certificate? In my opinion, the serial number should refer to the Notary I.D. number, as this number identifies the actual notary. However, most notaries are writing their commission number in that space, i.e. the number on the seal. The NNA, which is not at all a definitive authority on Florida notary law, suggests in its Notary Law Primer that "serial number" refers to commission number. However, since that number is already visible on the seal, some notaries prefer to write their Notary I.D. number in that space for additional identification purposes. The notary is not obligated by law to provide any number in that space. The only thing a notary must list underneath their signature is their printed, typed, or stamped name as commissioned.

It therefore boils down to personal preference whether you want to write your commission number or your Notary I.D. number in the space for "serial number" on acknowledgment forms.