An Arizona jurat is a notarial act in which you appear before a notary public, prove your identity, sign a document while the notary watches, and swear or affirm under oath that its contents are true. Arizona defines the act in A.R.S. § 41-311, and all three elements — identification, witnessed signature, and oath or affirmation — must happen in a single sitting.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 41-311 – Definitions You will run into jurats when filing court affidavits, sworn financial statements, and formal petitions to state agencies. Lying after taking the oath can be charged as felony perjury.
Jurat vs. Acknowledgment
People mix these up constantly, and picking the wrong one can get your document rejected. An acknowledgment only confirms that you are who you say you are and that you signed voluntarily. The notary takes no oath from you and makes no representation about whether the document is true. A jurat is stronger. You must swear or affirm the contents are truthful, and you must sign the document while the notary watches.
To tell which act your document needs, look at the certificate block at the bottom of the form. Words like “sworn,” “affirmed,” or “verification on oath” signal a jurat. Arizona now uses “verification on oath or affirmation” interchangeably with “jurat” in its statutes. The standard short-form jurat certificate reads “Signed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me on [date] by [name].”2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 41-265 – Short Form Certificates Acknowledgment certificates use different wording focused on identity and voluntary execution.
Identification You Need to Bring
Before performing a jurat, the notary has to verify your identity through what Arizona calls “satisfactory evidence of identity.” Any of the following unexpired IDs work under A.R.S. § 41-311:1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 41-311 – Definitions
- A driver license or ID card issued by any U.S. state or territory.
- A U.S. passport.
- A military ID from any branch of the U.S. armed forces.
- Any other government-issued photo ID from the U.S., a state, or a tribal government that includes your photograph, signature, and physical description.
- An inmate identification card issued by the Arizona Department of Corrections or a county sheriff.
No qualifying ID? Arizona allows a credible witness. A person who personally knows you and is also personally known to the notary can vouch for you under oath. Alternatively, someone who personally knows you but is a stranger to the notary can serve as the credible witness if that witness brings their own qualifying photo ID from the list above. The notary may also rely on personal knowledge of you, though that rarely comes up in practice.
The Process Step by Step
The order matters. Skipping or reversing a step can invalidate the whole act.
Bring the document unsigned. The notary has to watch you sign, so a pre-signed page defeats the purpose, and a careful notary will refuse to proceed. Fill in every blank before the appointment; open fields invite fraud, and most notaries will stop the session if the form is incomplete.
The notary then checks your ID, comparing the photo and signature to you in person and looking for signs of alteration or expiration.
Next comes the oath or affirmation. This is what makes a jurat a jurat. You choose between a religious oath invoking a higher power and a secular affirmation on your personal honor. Both carry identical legal weight.3Arizona Department of State. Arizona Notary Public Reference Manual The notary may ask you to raise your right hand and state that the contents are true to the best of your knowledge. Speak up beforehand if you want one over the other.
Finally, you sign the document with the notary watching. The notary fills in the venue (state and county), the date, and their signature, then applies the official stamp.
What the Certificate and Stamp Must Contain
Every jurat certificate has to meet the standards in A.R.S. § 41-264. It must be completed at the time of the act, signed and dated by the notary, and must identify the jurisdiction where the act took place. It must also include the notary’s title of office and commission expiration date, and be written in a language the notary reads, writes, and understands.
For paper documents, Arizona requires an ink stamp rather than an embossed seal. The stamp must include:
- The words “notary public”
- The notary’s name as it appears on their commission
- The county where the notary is commissioned
- The commission expiration date
- The commission number
- An image of the Great Seal of Arizona
The stamp cannot exceed one and a half inches tall by two and a half inches wide.3Arizona Department of State. Arizona Notary Public Reference Manual Check the completed certificate before you leave. Anything missing from the list can get the document bounced by a court or recording office. If your form has no certificate block at all, the notary can attach a separate page using the approved short-form language.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 41-265 – Short Form Certificates
Remote Online Notarization
You do not always have to be in the same room as the notary. Arizona permits remote online notarization, where you appear before an Arizona notary through live audio-video technology. The notary still verifies your identity, administers the oath, and watches you sign, but the session happens over a secure video connection.
Identity verification for remote sessions is more involved. The notary uses credential analysis software on your ID and may require knowledge-based authentication questions. A credible witness can participate remotely as long as the notary confirms the witness’s identity through multi-factor authentication.4Legal Information Institute. Arizona Administrative Code R2-12-1305 – Standards for Identity Verification The certificate must state that the act was performed using communication technology.
Fees and the Notary Journal
Arizona notaries can charge up to $10 per notarial act for a jurat. Many charge less, or nothing at all. Banks and credit unions often notarize documents free for account holders.5Arizona Secretary of State. Arizona Notary Public Fee Schedule Mobile notaries who travel to you can add a travel fee on top of the statutory cap, since travel charges are not subject to the same limit.
Every notary must record each act in a chronological journal. Under A.R.S. § 41-319, each entry includes the date, a description of the document and the type of act, your full printed name and address, your signature (in paper journals), the type of ID used or a note that the notary relied on personal knowledge, a description of the ID including issuance or expiration date, and the fee charged.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 41-319 – Journal If anyone later disputes whether you actually appeared and swore the oath, that journal entry is the backup.
Perjury Consequences for False Statements
The oath is not ceremonial. Knowingly making a false sworn statement about something material to the document can be charged as perjury under A.R.S. § 13-2702.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-2702 – Perjury; Classification Perjury is a class 4 felony. For a first-time offender, the sentencing range runs from 1 year at the mitigated end to 3.75 years at the aggravated end, with a presumptive term of 2.5 years.8Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-702 – First Time Felony Offenders; Sentencing
The word doing the work in the statute is “material.” Not every inaccuracy is perjury. The false statement has to concern something significant to the document’s purpose. An honest mistake about a small detail is not the same as deliberately lying about your income on a sworn financial affidavit. Read every word before you swear. Once the oath is taken, every statement on the page is yours.