423.010 Appointment, term, and qualifications of notaries -- County clerk has powers of notary when acting in capacity as clerk. (Repealed Effective until January 1, 2020) (1) The Secretary of State may appoint as many notaries public as he or she deems necessary, who shall hold office for four (4) years. Any resident of the Commonwealth of Kentucky desiring to be appointed a notary public shall make written application to the Secretary of State. The application shall be approved by the Circuit Judge, circuit clerk, county judge/executive, county clerk, justice of the peace, or a member of the General Assembly of the county of the residence of the applicant or in the county in which the applicant's principal place of employment is located. A person who is not a resident of Kentucky but who is employed in Kentucky may become a notary public by making an application to the Secretary of State which has been approved by an officer specified in this section from the county in which the applicant is principally employed in Kentucky. No officer shall charge or accept any fee for approving the application. A notary public shall be eighteen (18) years of age, a resident of the county from which he or she makes his or her application or be principally employed in the county from which he or she makes his or her application, of good moral character, and capable of discharging the duties imposed upon him or her by this chapter, and the endorsement of the officer approving the application shall so state. The Secretary of State, in his or her certificate of appointment to the applicant, shall designate the limits within which the notary is to act. Before a notary acts, he or she shall take an oath before any person authorized to administer an oath as set forth in KRS 62.020 that he or she will honestly and diligently discharge the duties of his or her office. He or she shall in the same court give an obligation with good security, which shall be proven by a notarized statement from, and not the personal appearance of, the person providing the security, for the proper discharge of the duties of his or her office. Every certificate of a notary public shall state the date of the expiration of his or her commission. The Secretary of State shall give to each notary appointed a certificate of his or her appointment under the seal of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in lieu of a commission heretofore required to be issued to the notary by the Governor of Kentucky, and receive a fee of ten dollars ($10) for the certificate. (2) A county clerk shall have the powers of a notary public in the exercise of the official functions of the office of clerk within his or her county, and the official actions of the county clerk shall not require the witness or signature of a notary appointed pursuant to subsection (1) of this section. Effective: July 12, 2006 History: Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 186, sec. 1, effective July 12, 2006. -- Amended 2002 Ky. Acts ch. 231, sec. 1, effective July 15, 2002. -- Amended 1990 Ky. Acts ch. 486, sec. 1, effective July 13, 1990. --Amended 1986 Ky. Acts ch. 204, sec. 12, effective July 15, 1986. -- Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 384, sec. 524, effective June 17,1978. -- Amended 1976 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 20, sec. 6, effective January 2, 1978. -- Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 235, sec. 1. -- Amended 1968 Ky. Acts ch. 100, sec. 22. -- Amended 1952 Ky. Acts ch. 45, sec. 1. -- Recodified 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective October 1, 1942, from Ky. Stat. sec. 3721.