At a Glance
Do you need help preparing for the California Notary State Exam?
This feature is for you!

The free At a Glance feature is a valuable tool for Notary Public State Exam Preparation:
- Just read!
- helpful for pre-study
- what a notary needs
- be ready
Easy to use
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Points/Requirements
- A Notary’s commission is valid for 4 years.
- A Notary can notarize documents anywhere within the borders of the State of California.
- A Notary is required to clear a background check by being Live Scan Fingerprinted before each commission.
- Certain actions will bar a Notary from being commissioned by the Secretary of State:
- Failure to disclose any arrest or conviction on the notary application;
- Conviction of a felony where not less than 10 years have passed since the completion of probation;
- Conviction of a disqualifying misdemeanor where not less than 5 years have passed since the completion of probation; and
- Non-compliance with child or family support obligations.
- A Notary cannot give legal advice about immigration or any other legal matters unless he/she is an attorney.
- A Notary is required by law to perform notarizations when a proper request is made.
- A Notary is required to obtain a right thumbprint for all documents involving real property and powers of attorney.
- The notarial acts and procedures are:
- Acknowledgments
- Jurats
- Signature by Mark
- Proof of Execution by Subscribing Witness Certificates
- Certified Copies Power of Attorney
- Certified Copies the Notary’s journal
- Before a document can be notarized, it must:
- Be complete,
- Contain the signature of the Principal, and
- Have the correct notarial wording.
- The Notarial Act is only completed by the Notary (not the signer).
- Notarial wording can either appear on the document or on a Loose Leaf Certificate.
- When performing a notarization, it is important to complete each step in its entirety. The three-step process is:
- Identify the signer;
- Complete the Journal entry;
- Signer/Principal’s signature, and
- When necessary, his/her right thumbprint.
- Fill out notarial Act/Wording.
- The Notary’s Seal/Stamp and Sequential Journal must be kept under the exclusive and direct control of the Notary (i.e., locked box or desk drawer).
Notary Rules and/or Exceptions
- Every signer must be identified by Satisfactory Evidence, which are:
- Specified Paper Identification Documents
- Oath of a Single Credible Witness, or the
- Oath of Two Credible Witnesses
- Maximum Notarial Fee is $15, except:
- Deposition—$30, Administering the Oath $7, and $7 for the certificate to the deposition.
Never higher than $44.
- Deposition—$30, Administering the Oath $7, and $7 for the certificate to the deposition.
- The signer must personally appear before the notary to have his/her signature notarized; exception:
- Subscribing Witness—A signer may have another person prove to the notary that he/she signed the document.
- Every signer must sign the document and the notary journal, exception:
- Signature by Mark—when the signer is unable to sign or write his/her name, the signer may have the document notarized by making a mark in the presence of two witnesses.
- Notaries Public notarize signatures; they do not certify documents, exceptions:
- Copies of his/her own Notary Journal and
- Copies of a Power of Attorney
- 30-day rule when notaries must reply to the Secretary of State, except:
- Immediately—when the stamp/seal is lost or stolen,
- Immediately—when the journal is lost or stolen, and
- 10 days—when the journal is taken by a peace officer.
- Use stamp/seal on all documents notarized, except:
- California Subdivision Maps
- The Seal/Stamp is not to be surrendered to anyone, exception:
- Court/Judge will require the surrender of the seal/stamp after a notary public’s commission is revoked when convicted of a crime related to Notarial Misconduct, including the false completion of a notarial certificate, or any Felony.
- The Court/Judge will forward the seal to the California Secretary of State with a certified copy of the judgment of conviction.
- NOTE: This is the only time anyone can possess your seal because you are to destroy your seal when your Commission is no longer valid.
- Court/Judge will require the surrender of the seal/stamp after a notary public’s commission is revoked when convicted of a crime related to Notarial Misconduct, including the false completion of a notarial certificate, or any Felony.
- Journal is kept under the notary’s exclusive and personal control; no one may have access to the information in it, except:
- Members of the public may receive a lined item copy from the journal upon written request,
- Court Order, examination and copying may be done in the notary’s presence, and
- Employer’s business examination and copying in the notary’s presence.
Fines and Penalties
- $75,000 Fine
- Deed of Trust Fraud—Willful fraud and false filings in connection with a Deed of Trust on a Single-Family Residence
- $10,000 Penalties
- Identity of the Credible Witness—Failure to obtain the satisfactory evidence required to establish the identity of a single credible witness.
- Penalty of Perjury/Acknowledgment—Willfully states as true a material fact and/or falsifies a certificate of acknowledgment.
- $2500 Civil Penalties
- Failure to Provide Journal a peace officer the notary journal when requested.
- Failure to Obtain Thumbprint as required.
- $1,500 Violations
- NOTE: The following $1,500 violations have this in common - they are willful and intentional.
- The use of false or misleading advertising wherein the notary public has represented that he or she has duties, rights, or privileges that he or she does not possess;
- Commission of any act involving dishonesty, fraud, or Notarial misconduct.
- Execution of any certificate as a notary public containing a statement known to the notary public to be false;
- Violating the prohibition against a notary public who holds himself or herself out as an immigration specialist or consultant advertising that he or she is a notary public or
- Violating the restrictions on charging to assist in the completion of immigration forms; and
- Violating the restrictions on advertising notarial services in a language other than English or
- Literally translating the words “notary public” into Spanish;
- Willfully failing to discharge fully and faithfully any of the duties or responsibilities required of a notary public.
- Unauthorized manufacture, duplication, or sale of the notary public seal;
- Failure to notify the California Secretary of State that a notary public seal is lost, stolen, destroyed or damaged.
- $1,000 Fine
- Unlawful Practice of Law - Any person practicing law who is not an active member of the State Bar is guilty of unlawful practice of law.
- $750 Violations
- NOTE: These $750 violations have this in common - they are oversights and not willful, but still a violation.
- Failure to Discharge Notary Duties.
- Charging more than the notary fees prescribed by the notary law.
- Failure to complete the acknowledgment at the time the notary's signature and seal are affixed to the document.
- Failure to administer the oath or affirmation as required.
- Taking Improper Identification
- $500 Infraction Penalties
- Failure to notify the Secretary of State of:
- an address change of business, mailing, or resident, and
- the name change of the notary public.
- Failure to notify the Secretary of State of:
These penalties may be in addition to denial of an application or suspension or revocation of the notary public commission, and be guilty of a misdemeanor/felony and liable in a civil action for damages to any person injured.
Key Points
- The following Notarial Acts require exact wording:
- Acknowledgment
- the most common form of notarization;
- in the notary’s presence;
- the notary is to positively identify the signer;
- the signer acknowledged signing the document.
- Out-of-state acknowledgments are acceptable only if the certification does not require the Notary to supersede California notarial law.
- Jurat
- the second most common notarization;
- in the notary’s presence the signer must sign document and
the notary must administer a separate oath for each Jurat. - Out-of-state Jurats are not acceptable and a loose leaf Jurat must be used.
- Proof of Execution by a Subscribing Witness Certificate
- used when the document signer/principal cannot personally appear before a notary.
- Cannot be used on any documents affecting real property or on any documents requiring a thumbprint in the journal.
- Subscribing Witness must be identified by a credible witness with ID.
- There must be an “unbroken chain” of personal knowledge:the Notary must know the Credible Witness,the Credible Witness must know the Subscribing Witness,the Credible Witness must know the Subscribing Witness, and the Subscribing Witness must know the Principal.
- Acknowledgment
- A Notary can notarize a document in a language he/she cannot speak or read (as a notary is not responsible for the contents of the document) as long as the notarial wording is in English.
- A Notary cannot notarize for a signer with whom he/she is unable to communicate;
- an interpreter may not be used.
- Signature by Mark:
- Requires two Viewing Witnesses who observe the Signer/Principal make his/her mark on the document and the notary's journal.
- The Viewing Witnesses do not have to be identified.
- The Viewing Witnesses must sign the document as witnesses.
- Witness #1 must cursive the Signer/Principal’s name next to the mark on the document.
- Witness #1 or the Notary must write the Signer/Principal’s name next to the mark in the notary's journal.
- A Notary must take, subscribe, and file the oath of office and file a $15,000 surety bond with the county clerk's office of place of business stated in the application within 30 calendar days from the date stated on the commission.
- Errors and Omissions Insurance would protect a notary who has damaged someone due to his or her notarial misconduct or negligence.
- Even simple oversights, such as a failure to affix your notary seal or to properly identify the customer could subject you to be personally liable for losses.
- A notary public is not prohibited from notarizing for relatives:
unless doing so would provide a direct financial or beneficial interest to the notary public. - A notary’s employer may limit, during the ordinary course of employment:
- for whom and when to notarize, and
- how much the notary may charge.
- A notary public is prohibited from giving legal advice/practicing law, unless the notary public is also a licensed California attorney.
Test Taking Pointers
- Relax and maintain a positive attitude while testing.
- Focus on your own test, not others.
- Determine what concept the question is testing.
- Read the question, come up with the answer in your head, then read the possible choices.
- This way the choices given on the test won’t throw you off or trick you.
- Look for the overriding rules.
- This is especially useful for word problems and scenarios.
- When presented with a scenario, determine who the Notary is in the scenario.
- Select the “best” answer.
- Use a process of elimination and select the “best” answer from the choices given.
- If you are not 100% sure of the answer, skip the question for now.
Sometimes the test itself will help you answer the question.- Be sure to come back and answer the question.
- Remember an unanswered question is a 100% wrong answer;
- a wild guess has a 25% chance of being the correct answer.
- Select the most whole and complete answer, which can stand on its own.
- Look for keywords in the question (e.g., except, all, not, all except, etc…).
- Read the test question through once looking for these key words and circle them.
- Then re-read the question.
- Then read all the choices before selecting the answer.
- “All of the above” and “None of the above” answer choices:
- if you are certain one of the statements is true, don’t choose “None of the above”; or
- if one of the statements is false, don’t choose “All of the above”.
- Don’t read into the question; answer only what is being asked.
- The procedure may be correct, but is that what is being asked?
- If a specific document is named, determine what special conditions or limitations pertain to that document.
- Usually the correct answer is the choice with the most information.
A positive choice is more likely to be true than a negative one. - Ask yourself does the answer make sense and does it cover the whole problem?
- When all else fails—choose “b”.
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and take our free Practice Tests.
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