Understanding California's 2023 Notary Public Handbook (Part 6)

This is Part 6 of a series where I am sharing my experience and notes from reading the the evaluation of the California Notary Public Handbook, a tool written to assist in the interpretation of the various Codes that impact the work of a notary public in California.

In Part 1, we examined notes in the categories of the timeline of the application, the locations in which a notary may practice, and the location of the relevant codification in the California Government code.

In Part 2, we looked at the section on Notary seals; including where to keep them, embosser-style seals, and exceptions to using a seal.

In Part 3, we touched on repercussions, identification, and the note on journal notes.

In Part 4, we examined our thoughts on the section of credible witnesses and determined we made some incorrect notes on the notes which were then adjusted.

In Part 5, we took an interim break where we had an inside look at the class and test experience, along with learning about the new data services website that I've been creating.

Note 12: Journal Entries

In Parts 1-3, you may have noticed that there are 3 sections of notes per article. In Part 4, that changed to be only 2 because the next section I have marked is for Journal Entries and for the sake of smaller, more easily digestible articles, I wanted this to have this be the first one to make sure we didn't go too long. While I have a few things highlighted, it is A LOT to cover.

To me, the journal is one of the more exciting parts of being a notary. As I mentioned earlier, my education is in archives. The journal is like my personal contribution to the larger world of records, currently, record-wise, I will only live on as my vital records (birth, marriage, divorce and eventually death certificate). After buying my first home, I now have at least some real estate records, but those are all about me. Not ones that I've created or facilitated. I'm excited to be part of something bigger than just myself.

My first highlighted section is:

A notary public is required to keep one active sequential journal at a time...

Like many people, I will be getting this commission through my place of employment. Some people would like to have a journal for work and a journal for non-work notarizations. California requires a notary to have ONLY ONE.

The next section is something that I thought a LOT about before embarking on this adventure.

The journal must be kept in a locked and secured area (such as a lockbox or locked desk drawer), under the direct and exclusive control of the notary public.

While in this handbook it has some clarification in parentheses about the expectations of a "locked and secured area," I wasn't in a situation where I felt that areas I had access to were secure enough. I didn't have a desk or a lock box. I lived in a small apartment in North Hollywood and had just found out I would probably be laid off from my job after they sent me oversees for 3 months. But that's a whole other story. "Locked and secured area" haunted me and became a "reason" I didn't go through with this ten years ago.

I currently have ideas to create a special "locked and secured" area for journal and notary items, I hope we can find a way to create it!

The next items highlighted are the items that must be included for every notarial act.

• Date, time and type of act
• Character of every instrument sworn to, affirmed, acknowledged... (e. g. deed of trust)
• The signature of each person whose signature is being notarized
• Statement that the person provided satisfactory evidence
• The fee charged for the notarial service
• If it is a document affecting real property, the party signing the document must place their right thumbprint in the journal.

All of these items sound completely reasonable to me. However, after listening to other notaries, it was made pretty clear to me that California does have much stricter standards than many other states. In this case, I'm grateful for that. If I ever were to move out of the state, I will have already developed good notary journaling habits.

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This is the end of Part 6 of a multi-part series of articles on my notes and impressions of the California 2023 Notary Public Handbook. The previous posts on this topic can be accessed by clicking on the corresponding link below.

• Understanding California's 2023 Notary Public Handbook (Part 1)
• Understanding California's 2023 Notary Public Handbook (Part 2)
• Understanding California's 2023 Notary Public Handbook (Part 3)
• Understanding California's 2023 Notary Public Handbook (Part 4)
• Understanding California's 2023 Notary Public Handbook (Part 5, Interim)

Part 7 should be available within the week.

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