California Notary Bond: What It Is and Isn't

Every California notary files a $15,000 bond. The handbook says it in one line: "California law requires every notary public to file an official bond in the amount of $15,000." Its next sentence says what the bond is not: "The notary public bond is not an insurance policy for the notary public." The commission waits on it too: "The commission does not take effect until the oath and bond are filed with the county clerk's office."

Below: what the statute requires of the bond, who is liable when a notary's official misconduct or neglect injures someone, why that leaves the notary exposed, how the filing works, and what happens when a surety wants out.

Every rule here comes from the California Notary Public Handbook, January 2026 edition, and the code sections it reproduces. Where the handbook's summary and a statute are worded differently, this guide quotes both.

This guide is not the course. Reading it does not count toward the six hours a first commission requires or the three hours of a refresher, and cannot. A refresher counts only if you apply for reappointment before your current commission expires. The statutory education requirement is satisfied only by completing a course of study the Secretary of State has approved and receiving that vendor's Proof of Completion certificate. General notarial information, not legal advice.

What the law requires

Government Code section 8212 is two sentences long: "Every person appointed a notary public shall execute an official bond in the sum of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000). The bond shall be in the form of a bond executed by an admitted surety insurer and not a deposit in lieu of bond."

So the amount is $15,000. That is the sum of the bond, not its price, and the handbook states no premium. The bond has to be executed by an admitted surety insurer, a term the handbook doesn't define, and it names no insurer. A deposit in lieu of bond is ruled out.

The duty falls on "Every person appointed a notary public". A renewing notary files a bond again: the 30-day filing applies to a reappointment's new commission too, as Your First 30 Days as a California Notary notes.

Who pays the premium. Two sections let an employer pay it. Under section 8202.5, a state, city, county or school district whose employee is appointed and commissioned as a notary under that section to act for it "may pay from any funds available for its support the premiums on any bond and the cost of any stamps, seals, or other supplies required in connection with the appointment, commission, or performance of the duties of the notary public." Under section 8202.7, a private employer may do the same "pursuant to an agreement with an employee who is a notary public". Each section attaches conditions to the arrangement, worked through in If a public agency employs you, the fees may not be yours.

If someone is harmed: section 8214

Section 8214 says who is liable for a notary's official misconduct or neglect. In full:

For the official misconduct or neglect of a notary public, the notary public and the sureties on the notary public's official bond are liable in a civil action to the persons injured thereby for all the damages sustained.

Read it in parts:

• The trigger is "official misconduct or neglect" of a notary public. The handbook doesn't define either term.
• Two are liable: "the notary public and the sureties".
• The route is "a civil action".
• The liability runs "to the persons injured thereby", the people that misconduct or neglect injured.
• The measure is "all the damages sustained".

Section 8214 doesn't say how the $15,000 in section 8212 bears on what the sureties pay, or how a claim is brought against the bond. The handbook's summary describes the bond as "designed only to provide a limited source of funds for paying claims against the notary public."

A civil judgment can also reach the commission. Section 8214.1 says the Secretary of State "may refuse to appoint any person as notary public or may revoke or suspend the commission of any notary public upon any of the following grounds". Two of the grounds turn on a judgment or money owed:

• (e) "When adjudicated liable for damages in any suit grounded in fraud, misrepresentation, or for a violation of the state regulatory laws, or in any suit based upon a failure to discharge fully and faithfully the duties as a notary public."
• (n) "Failure to submit any remittance payable upon demand by the Secretary of State under this chapter or failure to satisfy any court-ordered money judgment, including restitution."

The verb is may. Neither ground makes discipline automatic. The other grounds, and the penalties attached to them, are in What a California Notary Cannot Do.

The bond is not insurance for the notary

The handbook's whole passage on the bond, after its first sentence, reads:

The notary public bond is not an insurance policy for the notary public. The bond is designed only to provide a limited source of funds for paying claims against the notary public. The notary public remains personally liable to the full extent of any damages sustained and may be required to reimburse the bonding company for sums paid by the company because of misconduct or negligence of the notary public.

So the notary stays personally liable, "to the full extent of any damages sustained". And the notary "may be required to reimburse the bonding company" for what it paid. The handbook says may, and doesn't say when.

The passage cites Government Code sections 8212 to 8214. As the handbook reproduces them, those sections don't mention reimbursing the surety, so that point rests on the handbook's summary. The summary also says "misconduct or negligence" where section 8214 says "official misconduct or neglect". Where the summary and the statute differ, the statute is the text to follow.

The handbook says nothing about any other kind of insurance a notary might carry, and neither does this guide.

Filing the bond: 30 days, or the commission never takes effect

Section 8213(a) sets the deadline and the consequence in one sentence: "No later than 30 days after the beginning of the term prescribed in the commission, every person appointed a notary public shall file an official bond and an oath of office in the office of the county clerk of the county within which the person maintains a principal place of business as shown in the application submitted to the Secretary of State, and the commission shall not take effect unless this is done within the 30-day period."

Miss that window and the commission never takes effect. The handbook adds: "Exceptions are not made to the 30-day filing requirement due to mail service delays, county clerk mail processing delays, or for any other reason."

After the filing, the county clerk "shall immediately deliver the bond to the county recorder for recording." You pay the recording fee (section 8213(d)), and the handbook gives no amount for it. Then "The county recorder shall record the bond and shall thereafter mail, unless specified to the contrary, it to the person named in the instrument" (section 8213(e)).

The steps themselves (which county, where to take the oath, when mailing is allowed, what to do if the 30 days run out) are in step 6 of How to Become a Notary in California and in Your First 30 Days as a California Notary.

Moving counties, or changing your name

A move to another county. Filing again is optional. The handbook says filing a new oath and bond in the new county "is permissive, but not required". If you choose to, section 8213(b) says "the notary public may file a new oath of office and bond, or a duplicate of the original bond with the county clerk to which the principal place of business was transferred." The fees are the same as the first time: "the same filing and recording fees are applicable as in the case of the original filing and recording of the bond." It also starts a 30-day clock for a seal showing the new county. The address notice the Secretary of State needs either way is in When your address changes.

A name change. Section 8213(c) requires a new oath of office and an amendment to the bond, filed with the county clerk within 30 days from the date the amended commission is issued, and the amended commission "shall not take effect unless the filing is completed within the 30-day period." If the name change application also changed your principal place of business, "either a new or duplicate of the original bond shall be filed with the county clerk with the amendment to the bond." The full sequence is in When your name changes.

When a surety wants out

Section 8216 sets how a surety is released: "When a surety of a notary desires to be released from responsibility on account of future acts, the release shall be pursuant to Article 11 (commencing with Section 996.110), and not by cancellation or withdrawal pursuant to Article 13 (commencing with Section 996.310), of Chapter 2 of Title 14 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure."

It also names the court and who gets notice: "For this purpose, the surety shall make application to the superior court of the county in which the notary public's principal place of business is located and the copy of the application and notice of hearing shall be served on the Secretary of State as the beneficiary."

So a surety's release goes through the superior court, not through cancellation or withdrawal under Article 13, and it is a release from future acts. The handbook doesn't reproduce the Code of Civil Procedure articles section 8216 points to.

What the handbook does not say

These are fair questions the January 2026 handbook leaves open. They are listed so this page's silence isn't read as an answer.

• What a bond costs, or where to get one. The handbook names no surety and states no premium. The $15,000 is the bond's amount.
• How a person makes a claim against the bond, or how a claim is decided. Section 8214 speaks of a civil action and says no more.
• What happens to a commission when a surety is released. Section 8216 sets the release procedure. Nothing in the handbook says whether the notary must then file a new bond, or whether the commission is suspended for lack of one.
• How long a bond runs. The handbook ties the filing to each appointment and states no term for the bond itself.
• Insurance of any other kind for the notary.

Official sources

Check the source before you rely on a deadline or an amount.

• California Notary Public Handbook, plus a checklist of the required steps to become a notary public — www.sos.ca.gov/notary
• Secretary of State, Notary Public Section — Business Programs Division, P.O. Box 942877, Sacramento, California 94277-0001; (916) 653-3595
• Your county clerk's office, in the county of the principal place of business shown in your application to the Secretary of State, where the oath and bond are filed (Government Code section 8213(a))

Where notrai fits

notrai is a California Secretary of State–approved notary public education vendor. The Secretary of State approved two notrai courses of study — the six-hour course for first-time applicants and the three-hour refresher for renewing notaries who meet its conditions (Six-Hour vs. Three-Hour lists them) — each under its own certificate of approval. That approval covers those two courses of study and nothing else. It is not an endorsement or recommendation of the courses, of notrai or of this website, and nothing on this page is legal advice.

Both courses are online and self-paced, and each issues a Proof of Completion certificate to a student who completes it. Each also includes its own practice exam, built from the course material rather than the state exam. You can try it with a notrai account before you buy a course.

Separately, notrai has an AI tutor you can ask about California notary law.

Create an account to try the course practice exam →