Travel and Mileage Charges
This domain tests how a Maryland notary may charge for going to the signer. The exam distinguishes the statutory notarial fee from a separate travel charge and looks for disclosure, reasonableness, and documentation.
Separate from the notarial fee
Maryland’s per-act fee cap covers the notarial act itself. Travel is not a notarial act. If a notary travels to a hospital, residence, office, or correctional facility, the notary may charge a separate travel amount, but it must be reasonable, disclosed before the appointment, and not used to disguise an above-cap notarial fee. Many notaries use the current IRS mileage rate as a defensible benchmark for mileage, plus actual tolls or parking when documented. The statute does not require the IRS rate, so state the basis clearly.
Disclosure and documentation
Tell the signer the travel charge before the appointment-preferably in writing or email-including the round-trip mileage, the rate, and any tolls or parking. Record the travel charge separately from the notarial fee in the journal or in the notary’s business records. If the appointment is cancelled before travel, charge nothing. If the notary travels and the signer cannot produce acceptable identification, the notary may charge the disclosed travel amount but not a notarial fee, because no act was performed.
Worked example
A signer 12 miles away requests a hospital acknowledgment. Round trip is 24 miles. At an assumed IRS rate of $0.67 per mile, mileage is 24 × $0.67 = $16.08. The notarial act is $6. The notary discloses $22.08 total before the visit. After the acknowledgment, the journal shows a $6 notarial fee and the business record shows $16.08 travel.
Traps
The costly mistakes are quoting a single “mobile notary fee” that hides an above-cap notarial charge, failing to disclose travel in advance, charging travel for a cancelled appointment when no travel occurred, and charging a notarial fee when the act was not completed.