Notary Powers and Duties
What an Illinois notary may do
The core powers are narrow and personal. An Illinois notary may administer oaths and affirmations, take affidavits and depositions, and certify copies of records in the notary's own custody or of documents the notary is authorized by law to copy. The notary may also perform acknowledgments and jurats (covered in Domain 3). Critically, the commission is held by an individual: a notary cannot delegate notarial acts to an employee, and a notary may not perform acts for a document in which the notary has a direct beneficial interest.
Duties that generate test questions
A notary must require the signer to appear personally before the notary, verify identity through satisfactory evidence, and complete the certificate at the time of the act. The notary must keep a journal of notarial acts and retain it for the statutory period after the commission ends. Notaries must use the official seal/stamp, which includes the notary's name, the commission expiration date, and the state. A notary is expected to know the difference between an acknowledgment (signer acknowledges execution) and a jurat (signer swears to truth of contents in the notary's presence).
Traps
Questions love to test (1) whether a notary may notarize for a spouse or relative (no, due to beneficial interest and impartiality concerns), (2) whether a notary may certify a copy of a birth certificate or other record not in the notary's custody (generally no), and (3) whether a notary may give legal advice or explain a document's effect (no). Another trap: a notary's authority does not extend outside Illinois for acts that must be performed under Illinois law, though the notary may perform acts in other states if that state permits.
Rule of thumb
If the act requires the notary to have custody, personal presence, or impartiality, and any of those is missing, the answer is usually "the notary may not."