Notary public in California
Posted on:3/29/2006
| Each state authorizes a notary to perform a limited range of activities called notarizations. In some states a notary is authorized to solemnize marriages. |
California notary law will be discussed here.
Effective July 1, 2005, California notaries must take a 6 hour class before taking the notary exam. This applies to both new notaries and existing notaries renewing their commissions.
Due to the concerns mentioned above, California explicitly prohibits notaries from using the literal Spanish translation of their title.
Notarization does not prove the truthfulness of statements in a document, nor does it legalize or validate a document. Notarization also does not protect an author's rights in artistic creations or inventions.
Notarization requires that the notary first screen the signer. This involves reviewing identity cards (e.g., a driver's license) or testimony from one or more credible identifying witnesses; the signer is responsible for bringing the necessary identification or witnesses. Once the screening is finished, the notary must complete the notarial act and record the action in a journal. California anti-fraud law requires a thumbprint in the journal entry for certain types of transactions. Documents with blank spaces cannot be notarized (a further anti-fraud measure).
The two primary types of notarizations are acknowledgements and jurats.
Acknowledgments are executed on deeds, documents affecting property, and the like. An acknowledgment is a signed statement by the notary that the signer personally appeared before the notary, is personally known or was positively identified by the notary, and acknowledged having signed the document.
A jurat is the certificate of the notary stating that the signer personally appeared before the notary, is personally known or was positively identified by the notary (required as of July 1, 2005 under Assembly Bill 2062); signed the document in the presence of the notary, and took an oath or affirmation administered by the notary (e.g., "Do you swear that the statements in this document are true, so help you God?" or "Do you affirm that the statements in this document are true?"). The oath or affirmation is designed to compel truthfulness in a signer, through fear of the law or of God.
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