Arkansas Notarial Certificate Wording Pack: Official Forms, Fill-In Certificates and a Mistakes Checklist

Who it is for

Notaries commissioned through the Arkansas Secretary of State, Business and Commercial Services (notary), mobile notaries and signing agents working in Arkansas who want Arkansas's own certificate wording on hand, ready to fill in when a document arrives without a certificate.

Not the right fit if

You aren't a Arkansas notary, or you only need to read the wording: it's public law and free on our Arkansas certificate wording page. This pack doesn't decide which certificate a document needs or replace advice from an attorney.

Why it is different

• Only official sources: Affidavit and Acknowledgment templates (Arkansas Secretary of State); Notary FAQs, updated 2024 (Arkansas Secretary of State). No association templates or vendor forms.
• Where Arkansas has no official form (representative acknowledgment, signature witnessing), the pack says so instead of inventing wording. Checked November 2026.
• The wording is public law and free on our Arkansas page; the pack is the fill-in files, the chart and the checklist.

What is inside

• Which certificate do I use? (Arkansas). One page: each Arkansas notarial act, when it's used and where its wording comes from: acknowledgment (individual) (Secretary of State template: Notary Acknowledgment); jurat (verification on oath or affirmation) (Secretary of State Notary FAQ (basic jurat)); photocopy certificate (Secretary of State template: Photocopy Acknowledgment). Acts with no official form found are marked so: representative acknowledgment, signature witnessing.
• Arkansas certificate wording reference. Every form word for word with its source and check date. The acknowledgment reads "On this the _______ day of ______, 20____, before me, _________________________________, the undersigned notary, personally appeared ____________________________________ known to me (or satisfactorily proven) to be the person whose ..." and the jurat "Subscribed and sworn to before me on this ____ day of ________, 20____." Then what an Arkansas certificate must contain: the certificate needs a venue (the county where you stood), the date, and a narrative of who signed and what you witnessed, with your printed name as it appears on your seal, your signature and your seal near the signature; complete the certificate before you sign and seal it; seals and signatures are in blue or black ink, the seal must photocopy, and it shows your commission expiration date (so renewal means a new stamp). The seal may not include the Great Seal of Arkansas or an outline of the state.
• Fill-in certificates (Word and PDF). Three certificates, one per page, for the acknowledgment (individual), jurat (verification on oath or affirmation) and photocopy certificate, with blanks for the venue, date, names and your signature, seal and commission details. Remote acts: The FAQ gives no remote or electronic certificate sentence and says a notary may not notarize without the signer physically present, including over webcam. Arkansas has a separate e-notary program; check with the Secretary of State before any electronic act.
• Common-mistakes checklist. Six mistakes from Notary FAQs, updated 2024 (Arkansas Secretary of State), among them: using whiteout. Line through in ink and initial instead; leaving blanks in the certificate for the client to fill in later; A smeared seal: stamp a clear impression nearby, or prepare a separate certificate with the same wording. Plus a before-you-sign check.