Certified Copy vs. Notarized Copy

The important question is who is certifying what.

Office-issued certified copy

For many public records, the agency, court, school, or other institution that keeps the official record can issue a certified or official copy. The certification links the copy to the institution’s own record. Vital-record offices, court clerks, and schools are common examples.

Notarial copy certification

Some state and territorial notary laws allow a notary to certify copies of certain documents. The notary compares the copy and the original or performs the authorized copy-certification procedure. That is a notarial act; it does not make the notary the government or institutional custodian of the underlying record.

Notary authority varies by state and by document

Copy-certification powers are not uniform. Some jurisdictions restrict notaries from certifying copies of records that can be obtained in certified form from a government office. The phrase “notarized copy” can refer to different things; the institution’s wording and the notary rules where the act occurs are separate sources of meaning.

A notarized statement about a copy is not necessarily certification of the record

A signer can sometimes make a sworn or acknowledged statement concerning a copy, and a notary can perform the corresponding notarial act. In that situation the notary is certifying the notarial event involving the signer, not becoming the custodian of the government, school, or court record.

International processing can involve both concepts

A document route for foreign use can include an office-issued certified copy and later authentication of an official signature or seal. A private document can instead begin with a notarial act and then move into an authentication process. The presence of an apostille or authentication certificate later in the route does not erase the distinction between office certification and notarization.