Puerto Rico prescribes no wording, size, shape or ink for a notary's sello; the specimen you registered with the Secretary of the Supreme Court is what governs it. Your working impression has to reproduce that facsimile. No commission term and no expiration date apply, so renewal never forces a new device. This page sets out what the cited law settles and what it leaves open.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against Ley Notarial Arts. 7 and 8 and The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, with supervision and inspection through its Oficina de Inspección de Notarías (ODIN), and your firma, rúbrica, signo and sello registered with the Secretario del Tribunal Supremo. Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Yes. The sello is part of the authenticating set a notary registers and uses. | Ley Notarial Arts. 7 and 8 |
| Required wording | Not prescribed. Neither the Ley Notarial nor the Reglamento Notarial names wording, emblem, dimensions, shape or ink for the sello. | Ley Notarial Arts. 7 and 8 |
| What controls the design | Your registered specimen. The firma, signo, sello and rúbrica filed with the Secretary of the Supreme Court set the reference, and your working impression has to reproduce that facsimile. | Ley Notarial Arts. 7 and 8 |
| Customary lettering | Seals in circulation usually show Notario Público and Puerto Rico with the notary's name. That is custom rather than a codified specification, and this page does not present it as law. | Ley Notarial Arts. 7 and 8 |
| Size and shape | Not addressed. No dimension or outline appears in the cited law, and none is supplied here. | Not addressed in the cited rules |
| Ink color | Not addressed. | Not addressed in the cited rules |
| Embosser | Not addressed. The Ley Notarial and the Reglamento Notarial neither call for one, rule one out, nor set terms for using one. | Ley Notarial Arts. 7 and 8 |
| Commission term and expiration | Neither applies. Without a term or an expiry, nothing about the seal has to be redone on a cycle. | Ley Notarial Arts. 7 and 8 |
| Address change | Immediate, with no day count. Once admitted you notify the Secretario del Tribunal Supremo of your residential and professional address, and the monthly activity index separately carries the office address. | Ley Notarial Arts. 7 and 8 |
| Lost or stolen device | Not settled by the sources read for this page, and no procedure is guessed at here. | Not addressed in the cited rules |
Puerto Rico is one row in our notary seal requirements by state table, which sets each jurisdiction's rule side by side.
Is a seal required for a Puerto Rico notary?
Yes. The sello sits inside the authenticating set the Ley Notarial builds around a notary, together with the firma, the rúbrica and the signo, and all four are registered with the Secretary of the Supreme Court.
Oversight runs through the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico and its Oficina de Inspección de Notarías, usually shortened to ODIN. That office, rather than a state-style commissioning agency, is where questions about your own registered specimen belong. If you are still working toward admission, read our post on becoming a notary in Puerto Rico first.
What wording does Puerto Rico require on the sello?
None is required. The cited articles, read alongside the Reglamento Notarial, name no wording, emblem, dimensions, shape or ink for the sello, so there is no statutory line list to copy onto a die.
What circulates instead is custom. Seals in use commonly show Notario Público and Puerto Rico alongside the notary's name, and that convention is widespread enough to look like a rule. It is not one, and treating it as one is how a seal ends up different from the specimen already on file. Our plain-language walk through Puerto Rico notary seal requirements covers the same ground in less detail.
What actually controls the design of your seal?
Your registered specimen. Once the firma, signo, sello and rúbrica are filed with the Secretary of the Supreme Court, the test applied to your work is whether the impression on the page reproduces the facsimile held there.
That single rule does more work than a wording list would. It means two Puerto Rico notaries can hold seals that look nothing alike and both be correct, and it means a redesign is not a free choice the way it is for a mainland notary. Confirm your registered specimen with ODIN before you order anything. For statutory background, see how Puerto Rico's notarial law treats the seal and our summary of Puerto Rico notary stamp requirements.
What size and shape must a Puerto Rico notary seal be?
Not addressed. No diameter, outline, border or lettering height appears anywhere in the cited law, and this page does not fill that gap with a figure borrowed from somewhere else.
The only measurement that governs you is fidelity to the registered facsimile. Round is the common shape in practice, and that is a convention rather than a requirement.
Does Puerto Rico set an ink color for the sello?
Not addressed. The cited law carries no color, legibility or reproducibility clause for the sello, which means the choice sits with you and with whoever records the documents you prepare.
Because nothing in the law settles it, pick an ink that stays legible against the printing on the page and reproduces cleanly when the document is copied.
Can a Puerto Rico notary use an embosser?
Not addressed. Neither instrument calls for an embosser, rules one out, or sets terms for using one, and no preference between inked and raised impressions appears in the sections read for this page.
Since the controlling test is fidelity to your registered specimen, the workable answer is whichever device reproduces that impression faithfully. Ask ODIN what your own registered specimen allows before you commit to a format.
Does a Puerto Rico notary seal ever expire?
No. Puerto Rico attaches neither a term nor an expiry to the office, so nothing about the seal has to be redone on a cycle and there is no date to print on the device in the first place.
This is the sharpest difference from the fifty states, where a printed commission date turns the stamp into a recurring purchase. Two related posts cover it: what expiration means for a Puerto Rico notary seal and Puerto Rico notary stamp renewal.
What do you have to report when your address changes?
An address change is reported immediately, and the rule attaches no day count to it. Once admitted to the notariat you notify the Secretario del Tribunal Supremo of both your residential and your professional address.
Separately, your monthly activity index has to carry the office address. Neither duty touches the seal itself, so an address change does not by itself call for a new device.
What if your seal is lost or stolen?
The sources read for this page do not settle it. No reporting step, deadline or replacement procedure for a lost or stolen sello appears in the articles cited here, and none is invented to fill the space.
Treat this as a question for ODIN rather than a question for a stamp maker, because any replacement still has to answer to the facsimile on file.
What do we need from you to make a Puerto Rico seal?
Your registered impression. Send a clean copy of the specimen on file with the Secretary of the Supreme Court, at full size, so the artwork can be matched rather than approximated from a description.
A photograph of an existing impression usually works if it is square to the page and in focus. What does not work is a list of lines typed out from memory, because the rule you are being measured against is visual.
How do you check an impression before using it?
Press a test impression on the same paper stock you file on, then lay it beside your registered facsimile and compare the two line by line, including the outer edge.
Look for lettering that has closed up, an edge that is clipped on one side, and any element that sits differently from the registered version. Photocopy the test page as well, since a document that reads well in the hand can still reproduce poorly.
Frequently asked questions
Can I order a Puerto Rico seal from a mainland notary template?
A template designed for one of the fifty states is built around a required wording list, and Puerto Rico does not have one. Compliance here runs through the specimen registered with the Secretary of the Supreme Court, so a template cannot settle it.
Who confirms what my registered specimen contains?
The Supreme Court's notarial inspection office, ODIN. It supervises and inspects notarial practice in Puerto Rico, and your firma, rúbrica, signo and sello are registered with the Secretario del Tribunal Supremo.
Do I need to re-register if I replace a worn seal?
The cited articles require your impression to match the facsimile on file, so a replacement that does not reproduce the registered design falls outside that test. Confirm the point with ODIN before you change anything about the artwork.
Why does this page not publish a Puerto Rico seal template?
Because the law does not contain one. Publishing a specimen layout would present custom as a codified requirement, and a notary who ordered from it could end up with a device that departs from the facsimile already registered.
Does anything about the seal change when I move offices?
No. The address duty runs to the Secretario del Tribunal Supremo and to your monthly activity index, and the cited articles put no address inside the sello.
Bring your registered specimen and we will match the artwork to it before anything is cut. Start with the Puerto Rico stamps and seals collection.
