Any resident citizen or alien of the state, 18 years of age or older, may be appointed a notary public in and for the parish in which they reside provided that they meet the requirements established by Louisiana R.S.35:191.
Notary applicants must be qualified by the Secretary of State's Office and, unless licensed to practice law in Louisiana, must complete the Notary Exam Pre-Assessment as well as take and pass the state notary exam. The pre-assessment is online and must be completed before an applicant can register for the state notary exam. The pre-assessment is mandatory, but only needs to be taken once. The state notary exam is given at least twice a year.
To become an applicant, you are required to complete an Application to Qualify. To qualify, you must:
When your Application to Qualify is approved, you will receive an email containing your applicant ID and an access code to enable you to submit your commission documents online. Commission documents consists of an administered Oath of Office, Signature form, and Letter of good standing from the LA Supreme Court.
When Application to Qualify is approved, you will receive an email containing your applicant ID and an access code to enable you to register online to take the mandatory Notary Exam Pre-Assessment. (If you have taken the pre-assessment, you proceed to register for the state notary exam.) When registration for the pre-assessment is complete, the LSU Center for Assessment and Evaluation will email you login instructions to complete the pre-assessment. Once this office receives your score from LSU OAE, you will be able to register for the state notary exam. This test is an evaluation and does not require a passing score for you to register for the state notary exam.
Once you have received a score on the Notary Exam Pre-Assessment, you can register online to take the state notary exam. The deadline to get your Application to Qualify, Notary Exam Pre-Assessment and Examination Registration completed is 30 days prior to the exam. Please take note that the Application to Qualify must be approved by the Secretary of State's Office and the Notary Exam Pre-Assessment registration and scoring process take approximately one week. It is, therefore, beneficial to the applicant to submit these well in advance of the deadline. Deadline to complete the Pre-Assessment is 37 days prior to the exam.
The Secretary of State publishes an official study guide for the exam. Entitled Fundamentals of Louisiana Notarial Law and Practice, the study guide contains the sources and materials from which the exam items are drawn. No course or class is required by law in order for you to take the exam, but we suggest you take a good course or join a good study group.
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