Michigan requires every notary public to file a $10,000 surety bond with the county clerk before applying for a commission. Ours is $50 flat — set by our carrier's rate book for this bond. The bond issues the moment you pay — no credit review of any kind, not even a soft pull.
















Notary bonds are the simplest thing in surety. Here's the entire process:
Your name, county, and an effective date. That's the application — no financials, no credit section, no follow-up scavenger hunt.
Notary bonds like this are among the thousands of bond types that issue right after purchase. At most, 1–2 business days.
Your executed bond arrives by email. File it with the county clerk where you reside (or, for out-of-state notaries, where your principal place of business is), then apply to the Secretary of State. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
A Michigan notary bond is a public-protection guarantee. It's conditioned on indemnifying or reimbursing a person, financing agency, or governmental agency for monetary loss caused through the official misconduct of the notary in performing a notarial act.
It's a three-party arrangement: you (the principal), the surety carrier, and the people who rely on your notarizations (the protected parties). Under MCL 55.273 the surety pays only after a judgment based on official misconduct is entered against the notary in a court of competent jurisdiction, and the surety's aggregate liability cannot exceed the $10,000 bond.
The bond must be obtained within 90 days before you apply and filed with your county clerk. It protects the public, not you — if the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety. This propeller bond pairs the $10,000 surety bond with $10,000 of errors-and-omissions coverage, which does protect you against unintentional mistakes.
These are the actual issuing fields — the application collects no credit information for this bond.
Start the application →$50 flat for a one-year term, no credit review, bond often issued in the same sitting. Free until issued.