O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 45-17-2 (2019)

Qualifications of notaries

✓ O.C.G.A.: 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section GA-LEGlegis.ga.gov (official) JustiaJustia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) Any individual applying for appointment to be a notary public shall:

(1) Be at least 18 years old;

(2) Be a United States citizen or be a legal resident of the United States;

(3) Be a legal resident of the county from which such individual is appointed;

(4) Have, and provide at the time of the application, the applicant's operating telephone number; and

(5) Be able to read and write the English language.

(b) The qualification of paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of this Code section shall not apply to any nonresident individual applying for appointment as a notary public under the provisions of Code Section 45-17-7.

History

(Orig. Code 1863, § 1449; Code 1868, § 1506; Code 1873, § 1500; Code 1882, § 1500; Civil Code 1895, § 501; Civil Code 1910, § 619; Code 1933, § 71-102; Ga. L. 1947, p. 1108, § 1; Ga. L. 1949, p. 1940, § 2; Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 330, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1105, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 1469, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1446, § 2; Ga. L. 2007, p. 221, § 1/HB 274.)

Annotations

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Duration of residency unspecified. - This section states that a person must be a resident of Georgia, but does not specify any particular length of time for such residency; therefore, the question of residence is one which must be determined from the facts and circumstances in each particular case. 1958-59 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 60.

Notaries public for the state at large are no longer in existence, but under present law notaries public are commissioned by the clerk of the superior court in the county of their residence. 1952-53 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 387.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 2010–2025 · leading case: Anthony v. Am. Gen. Fin. Servs., Inc., 697 S.E.2d 166 (Ga. 2010).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Anthony v. Am. Gen. Fin. Servs., Inc., 697 S.E.2d 166 (Ga. 2010). · cites it 8× “, OCGA § 45-17-2 (qualifications of notaries).”
Bargar, Chapter 7 Tr. for the Est. of David v. Rocket Mortg., LLC f/k/a Quicken Loans, LLC (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 2025). · cites it 2× “§ 45-17-2(a)(5) (notary applicants must “[b]e able to read and write the English language”); id § 45-17-15(a)(5) (a notary’s commission may be revoked if the notary “[b]ecomes incapable of reading and writing the English language”).”
45-17-2(a)(1): 1 case
Anthony v. Am. Gen. Fin. Servs., Inc., 697 S.E.2d 166 (Ga. 2010). “, OCGA § 45-17-2 (qualifications of notaries).”
45-17-2(a)(5): 1 case
Bargar, Chapter 7 Tr. for the Est. of David v. Rocket Mortg., LLC f/k/a Quicken Loans, LLC (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 2025). “§ 45-17-2(a)(5) (notary applicants must “[b]e able to read and write the English language”); id § 45-17-15(a)(5) (a notary’s commission may be revoked if the notary “[b]ecomes incapable of reading and writing the English language”).”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.