Notary Public in San Diego — clear, careful service when your documents matter.

California allows specified forms of satisfactory evidence. A California driver license or identification card and a U.S. passport are examples. Other listed IDs have additional requirements. A valid passport from the signer’s country of citizenship may qualify when it contains the required identifying information. The notary makes the final determination under current California law.

California notaries have limited copy-certification authority. A notary may certify a copy of a power of attorney when permitted by California law, and there are other narrow statutory procedures. Certified copies of vital records such as birth, death and marriage certificates generally must come from the public agency that holds the record.

For an acknowledgment or proof of an instrument, the statutory maximum is $15 for each signature taken. For administering an oath or affirmation and executing a jurat, the statutory maximum is $15. Certain services have different maximums or no-fee rules. Mobile travel, courier, printing, translation and apostille-coordination charges are separate non-notarial services and should be disclosed separately.

California’s Online Notarization Act is being implemented in stages. The 2026 Secretary of State handbook says the remaining provisions that would allow approved California notaries to perform remote online notarizations become operative when the state completes the required Notary Automation Project 2.0, or by January 1, 2030, whichever is earlier. Until then, ordinary California acknowledgments and jurats require personal appearance before the California notary.

An acknowledgment confirms the identity of the person and that the person acknowledged executing the document. A jurat requires the signer to personally appear, sign in the notary’s presence, and swear or affirm that the statements in the document are true. The receiving agency or your attorney—not the notary—should tell you which act is required.

For a jurat, yes: the document is signed in the notary’s presence. For an acknowledgment, the signature may already be on the document, but the signer must personally appear before the notary and acknowledge executing it.

A California notary may notarize a signature on a document in a foreign language even if the notary is not familiar with the document language, but the notary must be able to communicate directly with the signer and must be able to identify the type of document for the journal. The Secretary of State handbook says an interpreter should not be used for the notary-signer communication.

No. A California notary who is not an attorney may not prepare, draft or select legal documents, give legal advice, or determine the kind of legal document or notarial act a customer needs. Ask the receiving agency or a qualified attorney when the required act is unclear.

Yes. California law prohibits notarization of an instrument that the notary knows is incomplete. Bring the entire document, including all pages that belong to it, and complete all non-signature blanks that should be completed before the notarial act.

California requires one active sequential journal under the notary’s direct and exclusive control. The journal records required information such as the date and time, type of act, character of the instrument, signer signature, identity evidence, and the notarial fee. Travel fees, if any, should be identified separately.

If a California notary resigns, is disqualified or removed, or allows the commission to expire without obtaining reappointment within 30 days, the notarial journals must be delivered within 30 days to the county clerk where the current oath of office is filed. The official seal is destroyed.

California does not impose a blanket prohibition on notarizing for relatives, but a notary may not perform a notarial act when the notary has a direct financial or beneficial interest in the transaction. Using an unrelated notary can also avoid the appearance of partiality.

Some California identification categories may be current or have been issued within the preceding five years. Other categories have additional requirements; for example, a foreign passport listed by statute must be valid and contain the required identifying information. Bring the best current ID available and let the notary evaluate it under the current rules.

California law provides a credible-witness procedure in limited circumstances. It has strict requirements. A single credible witness must be personally known to the notary; alternatively, two credible witnesses not personally known to the notary may be used after their identities are established with qualifying identification. The witnesses must satisfy statutory statements under oath.

The journal requires a right thumbprint for a deed, quitclaim deed, deed of trust or other document affecting real property, and for a power of attorney document. If the right thumb is unavailable, another thumb or available finger is used and the journal records the substitution.

No. A California notary’s geographic jurisdiction is within the State of California. A document notarized in California may, however, be intended for use in another state or another country.

The 2026 California handbook does not state a USCIS-stamp requirement for the foreign-passport category. It lists a valid passport from the signer’s country of citizenship as acceptable when it meets the statutory identifying-information requirements.

No. Notarization is the notarial act performed by the notary. An apostille is a government authentication used for certain public documents intended for use abroad. The California Secretary of State issues apostilles for qualifying California documents. Yebbo can coordinate the processing as a separate service; the government—not Yebbo—issues the apostille.

Yes. A non-attorney California notary who advertises notarial services in a language other than English generally must display a prescribed notice in English and the other language stating that the notary is not an attorney and cannot give legal advice, and must list statutory notary fees. California also prohibits translating “Notary Public” into Spanish as “notario publico” or “notario.”

Use the current California Secretary of State Notary Public Handbook and the Secretary of State notary pages. This page is a customer guide, not a substitute for current law or legal advice.