Utah Notary Practice Test

What should a notary do with their seal after leaving employment?

1. Return it to the employer

2. Destroy it

3. Keep it

4. Hand it over to a colleague

The correct answer is: Keep it

When a notary leaves employment, the most suitable action regarding their seal is to destroy it. A notary's seal is a crucial tool that holds legal significance, and it is intimately linked to the individual notary and their authority. Upon leaving a specific employment, the notary's authority granted by that employer ceases, and retaining the seal can lead to misuse or unauthorized notarizations. The seal represents the notary's official capacity to perform notarial acts, so it cannot be simply kept without potential legal implications. Additionally, returning the seal to the employer or handing it over to a colleague could create confusion about authority and responsibility for notarization. Therefore, the prudent and responsible course of action is to destroy the seal to prevent any risk of it being utilized improperly after the notary's employment has ended.