Missouri Jurat Certificate Form: Wording and What to Do With a Pre-Signed Document

This content is educational and informational, not legal advice. Requirements reflect chapter 486 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, in effect since August 28, 2020, but the law can change. Confirm current requirements with the Missouri Secretary of State before relying on this.

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Fillable Missouri jurat certificate

Pick the county or the City of St. Louis, enter the date and the signer, and the certificate updates live. Copy or print it and attach it to the affidavit; bring the document unsigned.

What is the Missouri jurat wording?

Missouri uses the sworn-and-subscribed formula, and the statute requires the certificate to be in substantially the prescribed form.

How does Missouri define a jurat?

With unusual precision, in RSMo 486.600. A jurat is a notarial act in which an individual, at a single time and place, appears in person before the notary and presents a document, is personally known to the notary or identified through satisfactory evidence, signs the document in the presence of the notary, and takes an oath or affirmation from the notary vouching for the truthfulness or accuracy of the signed document. Four elements, all in one encounter. The phrase "at a single time and place" rules out splitting the act across two visits, and the third element rules out a pre-signed page.

What if a Missouri document is already signed?

Ask the signer to sign it again in front of you. The Missouri notary handbook states the fix directly: if a document is already signed when it is presented for notarization, the notary should ask the person to sign the document again in their presence. Most states leave notaries to work this out for themselves, which produces a lot of improvisation at the counter. The reasoning is simple: the certificate will say the document was subscribed before you, so that has to be true. A second signature beneath or beside the first solves it in seconds.

Does St. Louis City go in the county line?

Yes, as the City rather than a county. Missouri defines "county" for these purposes as any of the several counties of the state or the City of St. Louis, because the City is independent of any county. An act performed downtown names the City of St. Louis in the venue, not St. Louis County, which is a separate jurisdiction surrounding it. The same logic applies to the county clerk, which Missouri defines to include the clerk of the circuit court in the City of St. Louis. Getting this wrong on a recordable document invites a rejection.

Is the remote jurat form different in Missouri?

Yes, it lives in its own section. RSMo 486.1175 sets out a jurat certificate form specifically for a remote online notary to use when notarizing a signature or mark on an affidavit or other sworn or affirmed written declaration. That means a remote act cannot simply reuse the in-person certificate from 486.755. If you hold a remote online commission in Missouri, keep both forms to hand and reach for the one matching how the act was actually performed.

What can a Missouri notary not certify?

Quite a lot, and the boundaries are worth knowing before someone arrives with a folder. Missouri defines copy certification as an act involving a document that is not a vital record, a public record, or a recorded document, so birth certificates, marriage records, and recorded deeds are excluded outright. The handbook adds that Missouri notaries do not have authority to certify documents from other states and countries. The journal is defined as a permanently bound book that creates and preserves a chronological record of the notarizations the notary performed, so loose pages do not satisfy it.

Published June 13, 2026 by the Trámites Notariales US editorial team. Sources: Revised Statutes of Missouri sections 486.600, 486.755 and 486.1175 (Missouri Revisor of Statutes); the Missouri Notary Handbook, Office of the Secretary of State. Confirm current requirements before relying on this.