Yes. In Florida, you can notarize almost any document from home through remote online notarization, also called RON. You meet a Florida online notary on a secure audio-video platform, verify your identity, and sign electronically. Most of my sessions take about 15 minutes, and you receive your completed documents as soon as we finish.
I’m Stephanie Limardo, founder of Palm & Seal. I’m a Florida notary registered to perform online notarizations, based in Fort Lauderdale, and I’ve notarized for signers in more than 20 countries. This post covers how notarizing from home works and what to check before you book.
Who notarizes from home
The people who find me usually need a document notarized that they weren’t expecting, and they need it soon. They’re often:
Stay-at-home parents who can’t easily get out during the day
Caregivers who can’t leave the person they care for
People with full-time jobs who can’t take time off to find a notary during business hours
People living in other countries who need something notarized in the U.S. without making a trip to the embassy
What they have in common is a deadline and very little time to spare.
Real examples from my sessions
Here are some of the documents I’ve notarized for clients who never left home:
The sale of a timeshare for a signer living in Germany
Disclaimers of interest for expats living in the Middle East
The sale of a home for a client who had moved to Thailand
A financial power of attorney for a U.S. citizen traveling the world as an international pet sitter
Documents for parents living in Germany and Australia whose children attend boarding schools in the U.S.
Divorce paperwork for clients who married in the U.S. and later moved back home to China and the UK
None of them had to find a notary, go to the bank or shipping store, or book an embassy appointment or take time away from their day. They logged in from wherever they were and got it done.
Two ways to notarize at home
When most people picture notarizing at home, they picture a mobile notary driving to their front door. That’s one option, and it’s limited to wherever the notary can travel.
Remote online notarization is the other option, and it’s my specialty. You join a video session from your laptop, and I notarize your documents from Florida. You can be in Fort Lauderdale or Bangkok. Palm & Seal is RON-only, which lets me serve clients during their day, wherever they are in the world.
Is online notarization legal?
Yes. Florida authorizes remote online notarization under Chapter 117 of the Florida Statutes. A Florida online notarization is governed by Florida law and treated as if it took place in Florida, no matter where you’re located when you sign.
Do I need to be in Florida or the U.S.?
No. The only location requirement for the notarization is that I’m physically in Florida during the session. You can sign from anywhere in the world.
If your documents need witnesses and they join by video, Florida requires them to be U.S. residents located in the U.S. at the time of signing, and I can arrange those witnesses for you. If you’re signing from outside Florida, I’ll confirm that you want your document notarized by a Florida notary under Florida law.
Can every document be notarized online?
Florida allows almost every notarial act online. The one exception in the law is performing a wedding. To notarize online, you must:
Be signing of your own free will
Understand what you’re signing
Present a current government-issued photo ID, such as a driver license, state ID or U.S. passport. If you’re outside the U.S., your foreign passport works
Pass identity verification during the session
For wills, trusts, health care directives and certain powers of attorney, Florida doesn’t allow a vulnerable adult’s signature to be witnessed over video, so those signers need witnesses physically present.
What a remote notarization session looks like
Most clients are nervous about the technology before we start. Once we’re in the session, they’re surprised by how simple it is.
Before your session
You book a session and send me your documents. I review every document, then build your session with the documents preloaded and tagged for every signature, initial and date. After my review, I send your invoice, along with a short guide and a 3-minute walkthrough video so you know exactly what to expect.
Have these ready before you log in:
A laptop or desktop with a working camera and microphone
Google Chrome, which works best
Your current government-issued photo ID
A charged phone nearby, in case the platform moves your ID photo step to it
A quiet, well-lit space and a reliable internet connection
Unsigned documents, because every signature happens live while I watch
During your session
You log in a few minutes before your start time to verify your identity.
If you’re a U.S. citizen, you enter your personal information, answer knowledge-based authentication (KBA) questions and upload a photo of your ID.
If you’re a foreign citizen, the process is similar, but you complete a biometric scan of your face by selfie in place of the KBA questions.
Once you’re verified, you land in the video room with me. I read a script and ask the questions Florida law requires for your documents, then I walk you through each document while you sign electronically. I apply my notary seal, and your completed documents are delivered to you as soon as the session ends.
The platform
You won’t be on Zoom, Teams or DocuSign. RON sessions run on secure platforms built specifically for online notarization, where you meet me by audio and video. Most sessions take about 15 minutes.
When KBA trips people up
KBA is the step that causes the most trouble. The questions come from public records and can relate to you, your spouse, an ex-spouse, your parents or your children. If you’ve moved a lot or have a large public record footprint, it’s easy to forget a detail from years ago.
You have to answer 4 of 5 questions correctly within 2 minutes. Signers who fail usually either miss a question or run out of time. When that happens, we may be able to use biometric verification, or we’ll reschedule.
Is notarizing from home safe?
In my opinion, remote online notarization is more secure than notarizing in person.
At an in-person signing, the responsibility for catching a fake or fraudulent ID falls on the notary looking at it across the table. In a RON session, Florida law requires additional layers that work alongside me:
Your ID is run through software that checks whether it’s authentic
KBA or biometric verification confirms the person signing is the person who should be signing
Every session is recorded, including your statement that you’re signing knowingly and voluntarily, and the recording is kept for at least 10 years
Many RON platforms now also run deepfake detection in the background to catch people using AI to impersonate a signer, which matters a great deal in cases of deed fraud.
I still review every document and every ID myself. My main goal as a notary is to protect the public, and these tools help me do that.
Why I chose to go RON-only
Going RON-only lets me help more people, wherever they live, during the hours that work for them. It also gives every client the added security that comes with online verification. For my clients, that means less time arranging a signing and more confidence that it was done right.
What to know before you book an online notary
A few things will save you time and frustration:
Check which state your notary is signing from. Most states now allow their notaries to perform RON, but not every state does, and the rules differ from state to state.
A Florida online notarization is governed by Florida law no matter where you’re located when you sign, and it’s widely accepted across the U.S.
Always check with the receiving agency that it accepts a remotely notarized document. RON is fully legal and should be accepted, but not every agency is up to date on online notarization.
If your document is going overseas, it may need an apostille. Documents notarized through RON with a Florida online notary can be apostilled, and I can handle the notarization and the apostille together so you have one point of contact from start to finish.
Notarize from home with Palm & Seal
If you need a document notarized and don’t have time to track down a notary, you can book a remote online notarization session at palmandseal.com. You can also reach me at (954) 909-6833 or hello@palmandseal.com.