Terms of Service

These Terms apply to everyone who uses the Platform: signers and the people or businesses who order notarizations ("clients"), witnesses, and notaries. Some users also agree to additional terms:

• Organizations that use the Notaron API agree to the Notaron API Services Agreement, which controls over these Terms for their use of the API;
• A written agreement signed by Notaron and a business customer controls over these Terms where they conflict;
• Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information and is part of these Terms.

Otherwise, if any of these documents conflict, these Terms control.

Notaron provides technology that lets clients and signers meet commissioned notaries public by audio-video conference, verify identity, sign documents electronically, and receive notarized documents, as well as tools for in-person notarization workflows. Notaron is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, and is not a party to your underlying transaction.

Every notarial act is performed by a notary public commissioned by a U.S. state, who is responsible for it under the law of the notary's commissioning state. The notary decides whether to perform each notarial act and may decline, pause or end a session in the notary's discretion, including when a signer's identity cannot be verified, a signer appears unwilling, impaired or not to understand the document, a document is incomplete, or the act would not comply with applicable law. A declined or ended session is not a breach of these Terms by Notaron or the notary.

Notaron screens uploads automatically (for example, accepting PDF files only and refusing a digitally signed PDF unless you ask for a copy to be notarized) and may refuse, hold or cancel an order it reasonably believes is fraudulent, unlawful or abusive. Notaron does not review documents for accuracy, completeness or legal effect. You are responsible for choosing the right document, the right type of notarial act and the right signers.

Notaron does not guarantee that a notary will be available at a particular time, that a notary will agree to perform a notarial act, that a session will be completed, or that any recipient will accept a notarized document. Acceptance is decided by the recipient — for example a court, county recorder, lender, title company, government agency, or foreign authority (including for an apostille or authentication). Some documents and transactions cannot be notarized remotely, and some recipients require wet-ink signatures. You are responsible for confirming, before you order, that the recipient will accept an electronically signed and remotely notarized document.

The validity of a notarial act is governed by the law of the notary's commissioning state and by applicable federal law, including the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN). These Terms are governed by California law as set out in section 17.

To use the Platform you must:

• Be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority where you live);
• Provide accurate, complete and current information, and keep it up to date;
• Maintain a valid email address and phone number;
• If acting as a notary, hold an active notary commission and any required remote online notarization authorization in your state, and keep them current.

You are responsible for protecting your login credentials and for all activity under your account. Account sharing is prohibited. Tell us promptly at support@notaron.com if you believe your account has been accessed without permission.

If you use the Platform for an organization, you confirm that you are authorized to bind it, and "you" includes that organization.

By using the Platform you agree to conduct your transaction electronically: to sign electronically, to have documents notarized electronically, and to receive notices, documents and records electronically, including by email and in your account. Electronic signatures and records have the same effect as paper ones where the law provides.

To take part you need a current web browser, a device with a working camera, microphone and speakers, a stable internet connection, a valid email address, and software that can open PDF files. You may withdraw your consent to electronic transactions by emailing support@notaron.com before your session; withdrawing ends your use of the Platform for that transaction and does not entitle you to a refund of fees already charged. You may request a paper copy of a record we hold about you at the same address; we may charge a reasonable fee to cover copying and mailing.

Remote online notarization law requires the notary to verify each signer's identity and to record the session. By joining a session you agree that:

• Your identity may be verified by analysis of a government-issued photo ID, by comparing a photo of your face (selfie) with that ID using a third-party identity provider, by knowledge-based authentication (KBA) questions, and by the notary's own review. Comparing your face with your ID uses biometric information, as described in the Privacy Policy;
• The audio and video of the session, the documents, and the session's events are recorded and kept as notarial records (section 10);
• You will appear on camera yourself, be alone or with only the people the notary allows, not be coached or prompted, and answer the notary's questions truthfully;
• A signer outside the United States confirms that taking part from their location is lawful there and that the document concerns a matter within the United States or is otherwise permitted by the notary's commissioning state;
• Failing identity verification, exceeding the number of KBA attempts the law allows, or refusing to follow these rules ends the session.

Prices are shown before you order. Payments are processed by third-party payment processors (such as Stripe); Notaron does not store full card numbers. By providing a payment method you authorize the charges described in this section.

When you are charged. A notarization session is charged when the notary has completed the notarial act, at the end of the session and before the document is sealed. If a session ends before that point — for example because identity verification fails, a signer does not join or leaves, or the notary declines — you are not charged for it. If you were charged and the document is then not sealed, the charge is refunded automatically. Orders a business pays for through a saved card or invoice are charged or invoiced as its agreement with Notaron provides.

Completed sessions are final. Each session is a separate, single-use service. Once a session has been charged, its fees are fully earned and non-refundable, non-transferable, and may not be credited toward another session, whether or not the document is used or meets your expectations, except as stated below.

Re-signing and repeat sessions are charged in full. You are responsible for the content, completeness, accuracy, and acceptability of your documents. A repeat session is a new order charged at the full applicable rate, with no credit for the prior session, including when:

• The document had errors, missing pages, or blanks when uploaded, or was revised after notarization;
• The wrong document or version was uploaded;
• A required signer, witness, or signature was not included in the order;
• A recipient (such as a county recorder, court, lender, or agency) rejects the document for a reason unrelated to the notarial act, or requires a different format such as wet-ink signatures.

Errors by Notaron or the notary. If Notaron, after reviewing the session record, determines that an error by Notaron or the notary made the notarization defective (for example, an incorrect notarial certificate or a missing seal), your remedy is one replacement session at no additional charge; Notaron does not issue cash refunds for such errors. To be eligible, email support@notaron.com within 14 days of the original session and before placing a new order.

Disputed charges. Please contact support@notaron.com before disputing a charge with your card issuer; most problems can be resolved faster that way. If you dispute a charge for a completed session, we may provide the session record to the payment processor and may suspend your account while the dispute is open.

Nothing in this section limits any rights you have under applicable law that cannot be waived by contract.

Notaries using the Platform agree and acknowledge that:

• They are independent contractors and not employees, partners, agents, or franchisees of Notaron, and nothing in these Terms creates an employment or agency relationship;
• They are solely responsible for each notarial act they perform and for complying with the laws and regulations of their commissioning state, including those on identity proofing, journals, recordings, certificates, seals and fees;
• They will maintain all required commissions, remote online notarization authorizations, electronic seals and digital certificates, bonds, and insurance (including errors and omissions coverage where required), and will provide proof on request;
• They will keep their digital certificate, seal and account credentials under their sole control, and will tell Notaron within 48 hours if any of them may have been lost, stolen or used by someone else;
• They will tell Notaron promptly of any investigation, discipline, suspension, revocation or expiration affecting their commission;
• Notaron may provide their journal entries, recordings and related records to their commissioning authority (such as a Secretary of State) or as the law otherwise requires, and, where the law provides, to the notary's designated custodian or successor if the notary is unable to act.

Notaron keeps the journal and recordings of notarizations performed on the Platform for the period section 10 describes, including after a notary stops using the Platform. A notary may request copies of their own records at any time.

Opportunities. The Platform may make notarization opportunities available, but Notaron does not guarantee any assignment, volume, income, geographic availability, or access to specific clients. Eligibility for opportunities may depend on automated or manual criteria, including ratings, location, availability, commission state and compliance, and Notaron may change those criteria at any time.

Payment and completion. Payments to notaries are issued only when a transaction is completed: when all required steps are finalized, including identity verification, signatures, the notarial act, recording where applicable, sealing, and final completion in the Platform. Notaries are not paid for transactions that are started but not completed, partially performed, abandoned by the signer or notary, canceled before completion, failed because of identity verification or document issues, or interrupted by technical problems that prevent completion. Taking part in or starting a session does not create a right to payment. Notaron may withhold or reverse a payment in cases of dispute, non-compliance, or suspected fraud.

By using the Platform you agree to receive email and in-platform messages about your account and transactions.

If you opt in to SMS alerts and verify your phone number, you also agree to receive text messages about new transactions, appointment reminders and account alerts. Message frequency varies with activity. Message and data rates may apply. You may opt out at any time by replying STOP or disabling SMS in your settings. We use phone numbers for SMS notifications and account verification; we share them only with the service providers that deliver our messages, and we do not sell or rent them.

You agree not to:

• Misrepresent your identity, credentials, authority, or the identity of anyone else, or help anyone else do so;
• Submit a document you are not entitled to have signed or notarized, or use the Platform for anything illegal, fraudulent, coercive or harassing;
• Coach, prompt or pressure a signer during a session, or take part in a session on someone else's behalf;
• Share a signer's join link with anyone other than that signer;
• Interfere with the Platform's security or operation, upload malicious code, or attempt to access accounts, sessions or data that are not yours;
• Copy, scrape, reverse engineer or attempt to extract the Platform's source code, or use the Platform to build a competing service;
• Exceed or circumvent rate limits, assignment workflows or other technical limits.

Violations may result in suspension or termination without refund, and we may report suspected fraud to law enforcement and to the notary's commissioning authority.

Remote online notarization law requires notarial records to be kept: the notary's electronic journal, the audio-video recording, identity-verification results and the session's audit trail. Notaron stores these records for the notary, securely and for at least the period the law of the notary's commissioning state requires — at least 10 years from the notarial act — and access to them is limited to the notary, the people the law allows, and legal process. These records cannot be deleted at your request while the law requires them to be kept.

Completed documents are available to download from your account or the link we send you. Please download and keep your own copy; Notaron may limit how long completed documents remain downloadable after a session, except for the notarial records above.

You keep ownership of your documents. You give Notaron and the notary permission to store, process and display them as needed to provide the Platform, perform the notarization, keep the records the law requires, and comply with law.

For security, compliance and fraud prevention, session activity may be monitored and logged. See the Privacy Policy for how personal information is handled.

The Platform relies on third-party services, including payment processing, identity verification, knowledge-based authentication, video conferencing, cloud hosting and storage, and email and SMS delivery. Some of these providers may ask you to accept their own terms (for example, a payment processor or identity provider). Notaron is not responsible for third-party websites or services it does not control.

Notaron and its licensors own the Platform, including its software, design and content. Subject to these Terms, Notaron grants you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Platform for its intended purpose. If you send us suggestions or feedback, we may use them without obligation to you.

Notaron may change, add or remove features. The Platform may not be free from errors, uninterrupted, or compatible with every device or network.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Platform is provided "as is" and "as available," and Notaron disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. Notaron does not warrant any outcome, the legal effect of any document, or acceptance of any notarized document by a recipient. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers, so some of them may not apply to you.

To the fullest extent permitted by law:

• Notaron is not liable for lost profits, revenue, income, business or data, or for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary or punitive damages;
• Notaron is not liable for the acts or omissions of notaries, who perform notarial acts independently, or of third-party service providers, except to the extent caused by Notaron's own negligence;
• Identity verification reduces but cannot eliminate fraud. Notaron is not liable for a failure to detect impersonation, forgery or fraud by a user, or for a user's circumvention of identity verification, except to the extent caused by Notaron's gross negligence or wilful misconduct;
• Notaron's total liability for all claims relating to the Platform or these Terms is limited to the greater of (a) $100 or (b) the total amount you paid directly to Notaron in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim.

These limits do not apply to liability that cannot be limited by law, such as liability for fraud, gross negligence, wilful misconduct, or death or personal injury caused by negligence.

To the extent the law allows, a claim relating to the Platform or these Terms must be brought within one year after it arises (extended by any period paused under section 17), or it is permanently barred.

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Notaron and its officers, employees and contractors from third-party claims, losses and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your violation of these Terms or of law, documents or information you submit, your misuse of the Platform, or, if you are a notary, your performance or failure to perform a notarial act. Notaron will notify you of a claim promptly, may participate with its own counsel, and will not settle a claim that imposes an obligation on you without your consent.

Notaron may suspend or terminate an account, or refuse service, for violation of these Terms, compliance concerns, suspected fraud, risk to users or the Platform, extended inactivity, or as the law requires. Where practical, we will tell you why. You may stop using the Platform at any time and may ask us to delete your account; records the law requires us to keep are kept as section 10 describes. Notarizations completed before termination are not affected by it. Sections 6, 7 (as to records and payments), 10 and 13 to 19 survive termination.

These Terms, and any dispute arising from or relating to them or the Platform, are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.

Step 1 — Notice and negotiation. Before starting a lawsuit, the party with the dispute must send the other a written notice describing it and the relief sought. Send notices to Notaron at support@notaron.com with "Legal Notice" in the subject line; Notaron will send notices to the email address on your account. The parties will try in good faith to resolve the dispute within 30 days of the notice.

Step 2 — Mediation. If the dispute is not resolved within those 30 days, either party may require non-binding mediation by written notice. The mediation will be administered by JAMS (or another provider both parties agree to) before a single mediator the parties choose together or, failing agreement within 15 days, that the provider appoints. It will take place in Santa Clara County, California, or by video conference. If you are an individual using the Platform for personal purposes, Notaron will pay the mediator's and the provider's fees; otherwise those fees are shared equally. Each party pays its own attorneys' fees. What is said in mediation is confidential to the extent California Evidence Code sections 1115 to 1129 provide.

Step 3 — Courts of Santa Clara County. If the dispute is not resolved by the end of the first mediation session or within 45 days after the mediation notice, whichever is earlier — or if the other party refuses to mediate — either party may file a lawsuit. Any lawsuit must be brought exclusively in the Superior Court of California for the County of Santa Clara, or in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. You and Notaron consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue of those courts and waive any objection that they are an inconvenient forum.

Exceptions. Either party may, without first completing steps 1 and 2: bring an individual claim in small claims court that qualifies there; or seek a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to stop unauthorized use of the Platform, its security, or its intellectual property — in each case in a court in Santa Clara County where the law permits. Notaron may also collect undisputed overdue amounts in those courts without mediating.

Consequence of skipping mediation. A party who files a lawsuit without first taking part in mediation as this section requires, when the other party has asked for it, may not recover attorneys' fees in that lawsuit, even if they would otherwise be entitled to them.

Time limits. Deadlines for bringing a claim are paused from the date of the notice in step 1 until 30 days after mediation ends, so that taking part in these steps never causes anyone to lose a claim.

We may update these Terms. The "Last Updated" date at the top shows when they last changed. If we make a material change, we will tell registered users by email or in the Platform at least 30 days before it takes effect, except for changes required by law or that address security or fraud, which may take effect sooner. A change does not apply to a session that has already started or to a dispute that arose before it. Continuing to use the Platform after a change takes effect means you accept it.

These Terms, with the documents listed in section 1, are the entire agreement between you and Notaron about the Platform. If any part is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect and the unenforceable part is enforced to the fullest extent permitted. Notaron's failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without Notaron's consent; Notaron may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets. Neither party is liable for delays caused by events beyond its reasonable control. Headings are for convenience only.

Questions about these Terms, and legal notices: support@notaron.com.