§ 121.001.Officers Who May Take Acknowledgments or Proofs

Four subsections, one for each place an instrument might be signed, and the list narrows as the distance grows.

In Texas: a clerk of a district court, a judge or clerk of a county court, a notary public, a county tax assessor-collector or an employee of that office where the instrument is to be filed there, and an employee of a personal bond office for bail instruments under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The last two are limited to their own paperwork, so a tax office employee may not notarise a deed.

Elsewhere in the United States or its territories: a clerk of a court of record having a seal, a commissioner of deeds appointed under Texas law, or a notary public.

The commissioner of deeds is a survival worth knowing about — an officer Texas appoints in another state for the purpose of taking acknowledgments to be used here.

Outside the United States: a minister, commissioner, or charge d’affaires accredited in that country; a consul-general, consul, vice-consul, commercial agent, deputy consul, or consular agent resident there; or a notary public or any other official authorized to administer oaths in that jurisdiction.

The third option is the practical one, and it accepts the local notary of any country rather than requiring a trip to a consulate.

Subsection (d) covers the armed forces, and it is drafted for the conditions. A commissioned officer may take the acknowledgment of a service member, a member of an armed forces auxiliary, or a member’s spouse. The officer’s commission and the signer’s status are presumed absent pleading and proof to the contrary, and the absence of an official seal does not invalidate the acknowledgment.

Both concessions answer the same problem: a soldier abroad has no notary and an officer has no seal.