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Updated September 01, 2023

A Wisconsin notary acknowledgment form is a document that a notarial official, also known as a notary public, uses to authenticate a person’s signature on official paperwork. The individual requesting notarization must appear before the notary in person and provide satisfactory evidence of their identity. If the notary is confident that the requesting individual is indeed the person involved in the transaction, and that the form has been signed under their own free will, the notary will complete the acknowledgment form to authenticate the individual’s signature rendering it legally binding. This method of authentication is often required for living trusts, vehicle titles, bills of sale, and mortgages.

Laws – § 140.16

Notary Handbook – The information in this document has been provided by the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions to aid notarial officials in establishing their commission. Additionally, the handbook contains information on correct notarization procedures including examples of acknowledgments, oaths, affirmations, and the like.

1. Find Notary

The first step in getting a document notarized is to locate a notary within the State. Look to the list below for some recommended notary locations.

Credit Unions or Local Banks (BMO Harris Bank has 179 offices in Wisconsin)
UPS Store
Private Notary Services

2. Complete Paperwork

After locating a notary within the State, you should prepare your forms by filling them in completely with the exception of the signature fields. If your documents have already been signed, you may still have them notarized by attesting to your signature (more on this below). Bring your prepared forms to a notary and, if necessary, pay the processing fee demanded by the individual.

3. Show ID

The notary will be required to obtain satisfactory evidence of your identity before they can notarize your documents. If you are not personally known to the notary, you must provide photo identification or have a credible witness who is known to the notary make an oath or affirmation.

4. Take Oath

The notary will ask you whether you’re aware of the type of document being signed and whether you know of its intended purpose. If the notary is satisfied with this information, and if they have determined that you are signing this document under your own free will, they will ask that you provide your signature. In the event that your signature has already been supplied, you will be asked to confirm that you supplied the signature yourself.

5. Receive Documents

At this point, your signatures will have been authenticated and the notary should return your documents to complete the process.

Verify a Notary in Wisconsin (3 steps)

Step 1

Navigate to This Webpage to access the Wisconsin Notary Public Search portal.

wisconsin notary public search fields

Step 2

In the empty search fields, supply one (1) or more of the following items to locate a notary:

Last name
First name
City
Sate abbreviation
Zipcode
Start of commission (MM/DD/YYYY)
End of commission (MM/DD/YYYY)

Before proceeding, you can select the checkbox below “State Abbr” to include inactive notary commissions with your results. When you’re ready, click Search to proceed.

wisconsin notary public search fields

Step 3

Your search results will be provided on the following page. The information available to you includes the notaries’ names, addresses, and both the start and end dates of their commission.

wisconsin notary public search results

How to Write (For Notary)

Step 1 – Begin by downloading the Wisconsin notary acknowledgment form. For your convenience, we have supplied it in Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word, and Open Document Text.

Step 2 – With the form downloaded, provide the following information in the empty spaces:

County
Date
Name of person(s)
Seal (if any)
Notary signature
Notary title and rank
Notary commission expiry date

Wisconsin Notary Acknowledgment Form

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