State notary law guide
Colorado
Guide liveEvery claim below carries its citation and the source it was checked against. Sections still in verification say so rather than guess.
Fees
3 verified facts$15 per document, and that covers the whole notarial act.
The fee has to include every duty needed to complete the act, so there is no lawful add-on for the stamp or the certificate. It is a ceiling, not a set price.
§C.R.S. §24-21-529(1)Cross-checked · CO SOS Notary Handbook (rev. April 2024)
An electronic notarization can be up to $25 instead of the $15.
It replaces the document fee rather than adding to it, so a signer pays one or the other. Like the $15 it is a maximum.
§C.R.S. §24-21-529(2)Cross-checked · CO SOS Notary Handbook (rev. April 2024)
If a Colorado notary charges for anything alongside the notarial act, they must tell you before the act and give you a written itemized list — and without that itemization the charge is presumed to have exceeded the legal maximum.
Colorado sets no travel rate; this rule governs how any additional charge is disclosed, not what it may be. Failing to itemize doesn't just breach the rule — it flips the presumption on whether the statutory fee limit was exceeded. Title-company employees doing closing work are carved out.
§8 CCR 1505-11 (CO SOS Notary Program Rules), Rule 2.4.1–2.4.2Cross-checked · C.R.S. §24-21-529 (the fee limit the presumption measures against)
Notarial acts
1 verified factA Colorado notary can certify copies, but not of records held by a Colorado public office.
Records available from a Colorado clerk and recorder, the Secretary of State, the state archives or vital records are excluded — so a Colorado birth certificate is out, while another state's is not.
§C.R.S. §24-21-505(4)Cross-checked · CO SOS Notary Handbook (rev. April 2024)
Signer ID
1 verified factA government photo ID works even if it expired within the past year.
Colorado also accepts the notary's personal knowledge of the signer, or a credible witness who appears in person and swears to the signer's identity.
§C.R.S. §24-21-507(2)Cross-checked · CO SOS Notary Handbook (rev. April 2024)
Journal & seal
1 verified factColorado notaries journal every act as it happens and keep it for ten years.
The entry records the date and time, the document, who it was for, how they were identified — and the fee charged. A paper journal must be a bound register with numbered pages.
§C.R.S. §24-21-519Cross-checked · CO SOS Notary Handbook (rev. April 2024)
Online (RON)
1 verified factA Colorado remote notarization works only on electronic records, with the notary in Colorado.
The signer can be in Colorado, elsewhere in the United States, or abroad where the record relates to a U.S. court, property or transaction.
§C.R.S. §24-21-514.5(2)Cross-checked · CO SOS Notary Handbook (rev. April 2024)
Apostille
1 verified factColorado apostilles are signed by the Secretary of State.
The apostille certifies that the notary's commission was current and in good standing — not that the contents of the document are true.
§Colorado Secretary of StateCross-checked · CO SOS Notary Handbook (rev. April 2024)
Becoming a notary
1 verified factYou must be 18, lawfully present in the U.S., live or work in Colorado, read and write English, and pass the state exam.
The exam follows a course of study the Secretary of State offers or approves, and a private contractor may run it for a fee. First-time applicants take the exam; the term is four years.
§C.R.S. §24-21-521(3), (6); §24-21-522Cross-checked · CO SOS Notary Handbook (rev. April 2024)
Complaints
1 verified factThe Secretary of State takes complaints about Colorado notaries, and the notary gets to answer before anything happens.
That process decides the commission only. Damages come from a civil suit and criminal penalties from a prosecution — neither is something the Secretary of State awards.
§C.R.S. §24-21-523Cross-checked · CO SOS Notary Handbook (rev. April 2024)
Straight answer · What these guides are
Reference, not legal advice.
These guides explain how notarization works: the fees, the acts, the process. They won't tell you which document your situation needs, and neither will any notary. Notaries public are not attorneys and cannot give legal or immigration advice. For that, talk to a lawyer.
The same rule that governs our directory governs these pages: we publish what the state publishes, cite it, and stop there.