Commissioning, Qualifications, and Application Process
Who commissions, and what a commission is
Maine notaries public are commissioned by the Secretary of State, not by a county clerk, a probate judge, or the Governor. The commission is a personal appointment: it is not a license to practice law, not a business license, and it does not belong to an employer or a company. If you change jobs, your commission travels with you - but the stamp, the journal, and the responsibility for every act remain yours.
The sequence to memorize
Application with the required fee and attestations → review and approval by the Secretary of State → commission issued → oath of office taken and filed as directed → official stamp obtained → only then may you perform notarial acts. Core qualifications center on age (at least 18), the statutory connection to Maine (residency, or the nonresident connection the statute recognizes, such as a Maine place of business), and good moral character.
Traps that show up in questions
- Term length. Maine commissions run for a fixed multi-year term (seven years). Answers offering a four-year or lifetime appointment are wrong.
- Renewal. Reappointment is not automatic; a lapsed commission means you cannot act at all until recommissioned.
- Geography. A commission is statewide - there is no such thing as a "county notary" in Maine.
- Sequencing. Signing a certificate before the oath is filed and the stamp exists is a defect, not a technicality.
Rule of thumb
"Paper first, seal last." Nothing gets notarized until commission, oath filing, and stamp are all in place. If a commission expires mid-transaction, the correct answer is always: stop, never backdate, and let the parties find another notary.