During the pandemic, Janessa West began to notice a troubling pattern: certifying documents had become extremely difficult, increasing the risk of false identification and fraud—particularly in vulnerable situations like family members coercing elderly relatives to sign paperwork.
“Nobody wanted to leave their home, and many couldn’t,” says West, who opened Mobile Notary St. Louis in 2020 to address the problem. “We were doing signings through nursing home windows just to keep our distance. We stood outside in freezing temperatures to make sure people could get what they needed.”
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As pandemic restrictions eased, West assumed demand for mobile services would end; that was far from the case. Business only accelerated.
It quickly became clear that traditional notarization, such as handling signatures on documents for estate planning or commercial lease agreements, was no longer enough. Requests for international document authentication spiked, from students seeking visas to families navigating international adoptions. Mobile Notary St. Louis has streamlined these once-complex processes with state and federal apostille services to meet growing global demand.
A California native, West worked in notarization before relocating to St. Louis in 2018 in search of a lower cost of living.
“I had already been a mobile notary in California and was aware of the processes and procedures of the mobile notary business as well as having experience from over the years of being an entrepreneur,” she says.
She soon saw an opportunity to expand notary service options in the region.
“I thought it would be a valuable service given the demand,” says West. “I had no idea at the time that I was building a long-term, growing business.”
Mobile Notary St. Louis now serves as a centralized resource for critical documentation—offering mobile and online notary services that range from standard notarizations and real estate closings to more complex international requirements, including fingerprinting, FBI background checks, and apostilles, which involves issuing a specialized certificate authenticating public documents for use in another country.
The organization can meet clients in St. Louis city, St. Louis County, and St. Charles County wherever is most convenient for them—from homes and offices to coffee shops. The business also provides online notary services for clients worldwide who need documents notarized for use abroad.
Fingerprinting and FBI background checks are primarily conducted at the company’s headquarters in Clayton across from the Saint Louis Galleria. In-person services are also available for clients who require document notarization prior to submission for apostille processing.
Clients are pre-screened to ensure they have credible identification and the necessary papers, with documents such as IRS records and federal court filings requiring official certification from the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications—a process that can take a minimum of four to six weeks.
“We’re able to obtain federal apostilles within 14 business days,” says West. “For most people, time is critical, so the expedited service makes a real difference.”
Processing documents starts at $150 for the slowest service and $250 for the next business day service. West says the business processes between 200 and 500 documents each month and conducts fingerprinting for about 150 clients monthly as well.
Mobile Notary St. Louis now has a team of seven subcontractors, and West plans to continue growing her business. “Six years later, and we’re still going strong,” she says. “I just want to watch it grow with more team members, more notaries, and fingerprinting technicians.”
