Alaska Notary Handbook
Notary Public Bond
The bond must be in the amount of $1,000. Suppose you are sued for $500. If you are shown to be liable and cannot pay the $500, the surety would pay this amount to the injured party. Then, the surety would seek repayment from you. If you do not respond, the surety would sue you to recover the $500.
It is a common misunderstanding among notaries that the bond protects them from civil lawsuits. It does not. The notary bond protects the public against a loss resulting from a wrongful notarial act, whether the act was intentional or unintentional. The notary must reimburse the surety for any bond funds paid to a person who has suffered losses caused by the notary's improper performance of official duties. Notaries have unlimited financial liability for intentional and unintentional misconduct.
Alaska Notary Law
- A person applying for a commission as a notary public without limitation under AS 44.50.010(a)(1) shall execute an official bond of
$1,000 and submit the bond with the application under AS 44.50.032. The bond must
be for a term of four years from the date of commission.
- The lieutenant governor shall keep a bond submitted under this section for
two years after the end of the term of the commission for which the bond was issued.
Disposition of the bond after the end of the commission does not affect the time for
commencing an action on the bond.
The lieutenant governor shall keep the bond for one year after the end of the term of the commission for which the bond is issued. Disposition of the bond after the end of the commission does not affect the time for starting an action on the bond.
A certified copy of the record of the official bond with all affidavits, acknowledgments, endorsements, and attachments may be read in evidence with the same effect as the original, without further proof.
A notary and the sureties on the official bond are liable to persons injured for the damages sustained on account of misconduct or neglect of the notary.
| 
