Can a notary take an acknowledgment or affidavit of a nonresident of the State of Tennessee?
Yes, if that person is physically present in the state.
Yes, if that person is physically present in the state.
Program Participants are not subject to selection for state or municipal jury duty. T.C.A. § 40-38-607.
Program participants should not appear on state or municipal jury selection lists. If a program participant is selected for jury service, the summoning court should excuse the program participant.
If a program participant receives a jury summons for either state or municipal jury duty, the Participant must notify the summoning court of the participant's exempt status and provide a copy of the Participant's Certificate of Program Participation, if requested.
Participants may not fail to respond to a jury summons.
Certified Application Assistants work with various state and local agencies and/or nonprofit agencies that provide counseling and shelter services to victims of domestic abuse and other crimes. At list of Certified Application Assistants can be found here. Safe at Home is most effective as part of an overall safety plan. Additional information regarding safety plans can be found here.
We think it’s great you are interested in serving on one of Tennessee’s many boards and commissions!
To inquire about serving on a specific board, please reach out to the appointing authority of that board.
If you are unsure of the appointing authority, you can search our Boards and Commissions page here. Some boards have multiple appointing authorities, by clicking on a specific member’s name, you can see who is responsible for appointing a person to that particular position.
You can check with your county clerk's office to see if the request has been submitted to our office. You can also go to the Notary Search page and search for your information to check the status of your commission at https://tnbear.tn.gov/Notary/notary
An Administrative dissolution occurs for the following reasons:
A certificate of existence is a document issued by our office that certifies that an entity is active and in good standing.
Any person who is required by law to be registered under any of the following is not eligible to participate in the program:
Yes, Public Chapter No. 255 of the 112th General Assembly changes the language allowing notary publics to perform marriages. There are no additional provisions to regulate how Notaries perform marriages, but they must follow the rules required of all officiants. Effective April 28, 2021.
An individual should consider applying if they are victims of domestic abuse, stalking, human trafficking, or any sexual offense, who:
The application can be completed by:
Program participants may be required to provide their residential street address to a public utility service provider for the purpose of obtaining utility services. However, participants can request that their residential address be treated as confidential by presenting the public service utility with a certificate of program participation.
After doing so, the public utility service provider must treat the residential address and all other identifying information as confidential in accordance with the Tennessee Public Records Act, compiled at Title 10, Chapter 7, Part 5.
A Notary is considered a public official and may be removed from office just as any other official. Complaints concerning official misconduct should be directed to local Law Enforcement in the county in which the Notary is elected or in which the alleged misconduct occurred.
With regard to criminal conduct of a notary, Attorney General Opinion No. 07-157 states:
"Pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-7-103, the District Attorney General has the duty of prosecuting all violations of state criminal statutes which occur in his or her district. This duty includes prosecutions of criminal acts committed by notaries. A citizen who wishes to file a criminal complaint against a notary public may do so by contacting the District Attorney General of the judicial district in which the alleged criminal conduct occurred and proceeding through the complaint process."
Additionally, as explained in the above opinion of the Attorney General, a notary may be removed from office through the ouster proceedings set forth in Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-17-101.
A directory of District Attorneys can be found at Tennessee District Attorneys General Directory.
Private businesses are not required by statute to accept a Safe at Home Participant's substitute address. However, private companies or agencies are encouraged to make every effort to keep a participant’s information safe by accepting the substitute address whenever possible. If agency or business employees have questions about using the substitute address, they may contact the Safe at Home Program directly.
A Notary’s term of office is four years. The four-year term begins on the date that the notary commission is issued by the Governor. It is a Class C misdemeanor for a Notary to act in an official capacity after the expiration of their notary commission.
Program Participants must vote by absentee ballot. T.C.A. § 40-38-607.
Program participant absentee ballots must be treated as confidential and must be processed confidentially by the Administrator of Elections. Program participants shall appear in the statewide official voter registration list only by the Participant Identification Number.
As authorized by law, properly designated law enforcement agency officials and administrative agency officials may request disclosure of information relating to a program participant. T.C.A. § 40-38-609. What information may be available to law enforcement or administrative agency officials?
A commissioned notary can purchase a notary stamp through the county clerk's office or from an office supply company.
Contact the county clerk's office you were commissioned in to submit a name and/or address change along with a fee for the change.
An assumed name is a name other than the true entity name under which it conducts business. Tennessee does not recognize 'DBAs' (doing business as) or fictitious names. The assumed name is good for 5 years and can be renewed.
A business entity that has failed to file its annual report on a timely basis may be administratively dissolved and placed in inactive status. The filing history of every business is shown in the Business Information Search. Click on “filing history” for details on your business.
A registered agent is a person or company who agrees to accept legal mail on behalf of your entity. Tennessee requires that all entities (except General Partnerships (GP) to maintain a registered agent/office in the State of Tennessee at all times.
Tax clearances are required to obtain a certificate of existence, to reinstate, and to terminate, cancel or withdraw an entity from Tennessee.
We index information in the UCC system based upon the name of the debtor.
The required indebtedness language is “Maximum principal indebtedness for Tennessee recording tax purposes is $____________________________.” Tennessee law imposes a recording tax on any instrument evidencing indebtedness, including, but not limited to, mortgages, deeds of trust, conditional sales contracts, and financing statements.
The “indebtedness” is the principal debt or obligation which is reasonably contemplated by the parties to be included within the terms of the agreement. "Indebtedness" does not include any amount of interest, collection expense including, but not limited to, attorney's fees and expenses incurred in preserving, protecting, improving, or insuring property which serves as collateral for the indebtedness, or any other amount, other than the principal debt or obligation, for which a debtor becomes liable unless such amount is added to the principal debt or obligation, and is used to calculate additional interest pursuant to refinancing, reamortization, amendment or similar transaction or occurrence.
Request a search by filing an Information Request (UCC11). The fee for a copy search is $15.00 for each filing plus $1.00 per page.
Our online search (https://TNBEAR.TN.gov/UCC) displays summary information about a financing statement (debtors, secured parties, dates). Information Requests (UCC11) can now be submitted online and as soon as payment is complete, you are able to retrieve a .pdf file of the images.
Please note that a financing statement fling will not appear in a UCC11’s search results until the processed-through date in the office has passed the online filed date and time. The processed-through date appears in red at the top of the UCC Online Services page
Currently, credit cards, debit cards, and e-check payments are available for web filed documents. File online at https://TNBEAR.TN.gov/UCC
We do not accept faxed or emailed filings. However, you may file online at https://TNBEAR.TN.gov/UCC.
UCC forms are available online on our Business Forms & Fee page.
Use the online UCC search tool or file a UCC11 Information Request.
T.C.A. § 47-9-516(b) provides a list of rejection reasons. The following are some examples:
Please be sure that any filing not submitted on a Secretary of State form (especially search requests) includes all of the required information. Our forms contain all of the required information.
A UCC financing statement is effective for a period of five (5) years. A financing statement lapses or terminates at the end of the five-year period. A continuation statement can be filed to extend the lapse date if it is filed within six (6) months before the security interest expires. An initial financing statement filed in connection with a public-finance transaction or manufactured-home transaction is effective for a period of thirty (30) years after the date of filing if it indicates that it is filed in connection with a public-finance transaction or manufactured-home transaction. If a debtor is a transmitting utility and a filed initial financing statement so indicates, the financing statement is effective until a termination statement is filed.
A UCC financing statement is valid until it lapses.
If the recording tax on the stated indebtedness has been paid at the county level, the following are required:
Make sure any receipt that you provide is readable. If you request an exemption from the indebtedness tax, you MUST request it in writing with an explanation for the request.
A recording tax of eleven and one-half (11.5¢) cents for each one hundred ($100) dollars of indebtedness is due on any financing statement or amendment to a financing statement. You must state the “maximum principal indebtedness for Tennessee recording tax purposes” on either the face of the instrument or on an attached sworn statement “ The first two thousand ($2,000) dollars of total indebtedness is exempt from the recording tax; however, the exemption can only be taken once in relation to a financing statement. This tax is often referred to as the indebtedness tax.
The filing fee is fifteen dollars ($15.00) per debtor. When there are multiple debtors listed on a single financing statement, a fifteen dollar ($15.00) fee is required for each debtor. If multiple statements are filed, be sure to include the fifteen dollars ($15.00) fee for each debtor. Each different address listed for a debtor is considered a separate debtor for filing fee purposes.
The UCC Section provides public notice that a security agreement (the document that grants the security interest) exists between a specific debtor and creditor (called a secured party) and describes the collateral involved. The Secretary of State’s office is the central filing office for certain financing statements and other lien documents provided for in the Uniform Commercial Code. Filing a financing statement with our office allows a creditor to perfect a security interest in the collateral and establish priority in case of debtor default or bankruptcy. Documents filed include initial financing statements, amendments, assignments, and other UCC filings authorized by Tennessee statutes.
A UCC-1 is a “financing statement” filed to provide notice that a creditor has a security interest in a debtor’s personal property. It is not an agreement. It is just notice to the world that one person claims an interest in someone else's property, usually as collateral for a debt.
UCC stands for Uniform Commercial Code. It is a uniform law that governs commercial transactions, including sales of goods, secured transactions and negotiable instruments. It is a comprehensive set of statutes created to provide consistency among the states. It is called a uniform law because the same law exists in many states.