Florida Jurat Certificate Form: Statutory Wording and the Two Checkboxes

This content is educational and informational, not legal advice. The wording reflects Florida Statutes section 117.05, but the law can change. Confirm the current form with the Florida Department of State before relying on it.

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Fillable Florida jurat certificate

Enter the county, the date, and the signer, choose how they appeared and how you identified them, and the certificate updates live with the statutory Florida wording. Copy or print it and attach it to the affidavit.

What is the Florida jurat wording?

Florida prints the form in the statute, and the checkbox line is part of it rather than an add-on.

Why does the Florida jurat have checkboxes?

Because section 117.05(4) requires the certificate to record whether the signer personally appeared by physical presence or by means of audio-video communication technology authorized under part II of the chapter. Florida added the two boxes effective January 1, 2020, when the state authorized online notarization, and leaving both blank makes the certificate incomplete. Title companies and clerks look for the checked box, and an unchecked pair is one of the more common reasons a Florida document comes back. Check exactly one.

Which county goes in the Florida venue?

The county where the notary is located at the time of the notarization. Florida defines the venue as stating the location of the notary public, in the format "State of Florida, County of ______", which is a subtle but important difference from thinking of it as where the signer lives or where property sits. For an online notarization the notary must be physically within Florida, so the venue names the county the notary is sitting in, not the signer's location. A mobile notary who crosses a county line during the day changes the venue with the move.

Does a Florida jurat cover every signature on the document?

Yes, unless the notary says otherwise, and this catches people out on multi-signer paperwork. Florida provides that it is presumed, absent specific notation by the notary public, that the notarization is to all signatures on the document. So a certificate that names nobody is read as covering everyone who signed, even people the notary never met. If only one signer appeared, write that person's name into the certificate. The presumption is a good reason to complete the name line every single time rather than leaving it blank.

Must a Florida notary record the identification used?

Yes. The certificate has to show the type of identification the notary relied on, either personal knowledge of the signer or the specific form of identification produced. That is why Florida certificates carry the "Personally Known ______ OR Produced Identification ______" pair followed by "Type of Identification Produced." If you personally know the signer, mark that line and leave the identification type blank; if you relied on a document, name it, such as a Florida driver's license. Leaving all three blank leaves the certificate short of what the statute requires.

Does Florida require this exact wording?

Not word for word, but close. Section 117.05(4) says a notary shall complete a jurat or notarial certificate in substantially the same form as those found in subsection (13), and subsection (13) adds that specifying these forms does not preclude the use of other forms. What cannot be dropped are the required elements: venue, the word "sworn," the method of appearance, the signer's name, and the identification. A lender's national form is acceptable in Florida so long as those elements survive the translation, which is often where out-of-state paperwork falls down.

Published June 13, 2026 by the Trámites Notariales US editorial team. Sources: Florida Statutes section 117.05, subsections (4) and (13) (The Florida Senate); the Governor's Reference Manual for Notaries Public, State of Florida. Confirm current wording before relying on it.