Do You Need Witnesses, a Notary, or Both in Indiana?
· Notary Basics
A Notary and a Witness Are Not the Same Thing
One of the most common mix-ups on Evansville-area signings is the assumption that the notary is the witness. The two roles overlap, but they do different jobs, and confusing them is one of the fastest ways to end up with a document a bank, court, or hospital will not accept.
A notary public is a state-commissioned official. The notary's job is to confirm you are who you say you are, that you are signing willingly and appear to understand what you are doing, and then to complete a notarial certificate recording all of that. The notarization attaches to your signature.
A witness is simply an adult who watches you sign and then signs the document themselves, attesting that they saw it happen. A witness is not commissioned, does not formally verify identity, and does not use a stamp. Whether your document needs witnesses is decided by the document itself — by Indiana statute, by the form's own instructions, or by the institution receiving it. It is never decided by the notary.
Indiana Advance Directives: Two Witnesses or a Notary
Indiana's health care advance directive law (Indiana Code 16-36-7-28) is a good example of how the two roles interact, and it is the one that comes up most often on hospital and nursing-home calls. Under that statute, an advance directive is validly executed if it is either signed in the declarant's presence by two adult witnesses or signed or acknowledged by the declarant in front of a notarial officer who completes and signs a notarial certificate.
The word that matters there is or. If a notary is present, you generally do not also need to round up two witnesses — a real relief when it is 9 p.m. in a hospital room and there is nobody down the hall to ask. The statute also makes clear that if the form ends up with both two witnesses and a notarial certificate, the extra signatures do not invalidate anything.
Indiana also recognizes remote online notarization performed under its RON law for this purpose, which sometimes lets an out-of-state family member handle their part online instead of driving in.
Indiana Wills: Witnesses Required, Notary Often Not
Wills run the other direction, and this one surprises people. Indiana requires a will to be signed by two attesting witnesses, and those witnesses must sign in the presence of the person making the will and in the presence of each other (Indiana Code 29-1-5-3). A notary stamp does not substitute for them.
Here is the part that trips up even careful families. Indiana's self-proving affidavit — the add-on that lets a will be admitted to probate without tracking down the witnesses years later — is signed under the penalties for perjury rather than sworn before a notary. Unlike most states, Indiana does not require that affidavit to be notarized (Indiana Code 29-1-5-3.1).
So when someone hands us a will and asks us to notarize it, the honest answer is usually that the will needs witnesses, not a stamp, and that the drafting attorney should spell out exactly how the signing is meant to go. A notary is not an attorney, and a will is precisely the kind of document where that distinction matters.
Who Can Serve as a Witness?
Witness rules vary by document, but a few principles hold almost everywhere. A witness should be a competent adult who is not named in the document and does not stand to gain from it. For Indiana advance directives the statute goes further: at least one of the two witnesses may not be the declarant's spouse or other relative.
Practically, that rules out several of the people usually standing in the room. The adult child about to be named as health care representative should not be a witness. Neither should anyone named as a beneficiary. Better candidates are neighbors, coworkers, or a family friend. In a care facility, some staff are permitted to witness and some are not, so ask that facility ahead of time rather than on the spot.
Have witnesses bring photo ID as well. Even when a witness signature is not itself being notarized, receiving institutions increasingly want everyone in the room identified.
Line Up Witnesses Before the Appointment
Because witnesses belong to the document rather than to the notary, arranging them is the signer's job, and it is worth doing before the appointment instead of during it. A mobile notary brings the commission, the journal, the stamp, and the certificates. We do not bring witnesses, and as a matter of good practice we do not serve as a witness on a document we are also notarizing.
The five-minute version of getting ready: read the signature page and see whether it has witness lines; if it does, ask the receiving party whether they are required or optional; recruit disinterested adults who can be there at the same time; make sure everyone has current photo ID; and leave every signature blank until we are together.
When in Doubt, Ask Whoever Is Receiving It
The most reliable shortcut is to call the entity that will actually accept the document — the hospital's medical records office, the county recorder, the title company, the bank, the court clerk, the consulate — and ask exactly what they need: how many witnesses, whether notarization is required, and whether they will accept a remote online notarization.
If you are in Evansville, Newburgh, Boonville, Princeton, or Mount Vernon and want to talk through the mechanics before you book, call or text 812-205-3322. We will help you plan who needs to be in the room, then come to you — at home, at the office, at a hospital bedside, or after hours when the timing cannot wait.
This article is general information about Indiana notarial practice, not legal advice. For questions about whether a specific document is valid or how it should be executed, talk with an Indiana attorney.
Jason Dicken is a commissioned Indiana notary public serving Evansville and the Tri-State. This article is general information, not legal advice.
Need this handled in person? See our mobile notary service page, review mobile notary pricing, or contact Southern Indiana Notary to schedule.