Can a California Notary Notarize or Witness a Will?

California Probate Code section 6110 sets out how a will is executed, in the part of the code on wills. Except as provided elsewhere in that part of the code, a will is in writing and signed, and at least two people sign it as witnesses during the testator's lifetime. Each of them, present at the same time, witnessed the signing or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature or of the will, and understands that it is the testator's will. A will whose witnessing misses those steps can still be treated as meeting them on clear and convincing evidence of the testator's intent when signing (Probate Code section 6110(c)(2)), and a will whose signature and material provisions are in the testator's handwriting can be valid without witnesses (Probate Code section 6111). None of these Probate Code sections mentions a notary. The notary handbook has no passage on wills at all.

So these sources give a notary no part that is special to wills. When a notary notarizes a signature, what the notary completes is a certificate, which says nothing about whether the document is valid, and the notary gives no advice about the document.

Can you sign as one of the witnesses? Probate Code section 6112(a) says "Any person generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will." It does not mention notaries. Whether one person may both witness a will and notarize a signature on it is a question none of the sources below settles.

Below: what the Probate Code requires, where a notary fits, what it says about witnesses, how a will's witnesses differ from the handbook's subscribing witness, and what the sources leave open.

The will rules are quoted from Probate Code sections 6110 to 6112 as the Legislature's website published them on October 7, 2026. The notary rules come from the California Notary Public Handbook, January 2026 edition, and the code sections it reproduces.

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 California law requires to execute a will

Probate Code section 6110 reads, in full:

(a) Except as provided in this part, a will shall be in writing and satisfy the requirements of this section.

(b) The will shall be signed by one of the following:

(1) By the testator.

(2) In the testator's name by some other person in the testator's presence and by the testator's direction.

(3) By a conservator pursuant to a court order to make a will under Section 2580.

(c) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the will shall be witnessed by being signed, during the testator's lifetime, by at least two persons each of whom (A) being present at the same time, witnessed either the signing of the will or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature or of the will and (B) understand that the instrument they sign is the testator's will.

(2) If a will was not executed in compliance with paragraph (1), the will shall be treated as if it was executed in compliance with that paragraph if the proponent of the will establishes by clear and convincing evidence that, at the time the testator signed the will, the testator intended the will to constitute the testator's will.

Read it in parts:

The will is in writing, and it is signed in one of the three ways subdivision (b) lists.
The witnesses sign the will "during the testator's lifetime", and there are "at least two" of them.
Each of those witnesses has to meet two conditions. Being "present at the same time", each one witnessed "either the signing of the will or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature or of the will". And each one must "understand that the instrument they sign is the testator's will."
Paragraph (c)(2) covers a will that was not executed in compliance with paragraph (1). It is treated as if it had been when the proponent of the will establishes, "by clear and convincing evidence", that the testator intended it as the testator's will at the time of signing.
Subdivision (a) opens "Except as provided in this part". Part 1 of Division 6 runs from section 6100 to section 6390, and this guide quotes three of its sections. Section 6110 is not the whole of the part.

The word "acknowledgment" in paragraph (c)(1) is the testator's acknowledgment, an act of the testator that the witnesses witness. The section names no notary or other officer before whom it is made, so it is not the certificate of acknowledgment a notary completes.

Is a notarization part of what Probate Code section 6110 requires? The section does not list one. The words notary, notarize, seal and certificate do not occur in Probate Code sections 6110, 6111 or 6112.

(The handbook reproduces a different section 6110, Government Code section 6110, on an officer's liability on the official bond. It is not about wills.)

A will in the testator's handwriting

Probate Code section 6111 adds a second form: "A will that does not comply with Section 6110 is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and the material provisions are in the handwriting of the testator." Subdivisions (b) and (c) deal with a holographic will that states no date, and with one written on a commercially printed form. The section does not mention a notary.

Where a notary fits

When a notary notarizes a signature, what the notary completes is a certificate. The handbook calls the acknowledgment the form most often completed, and lists three things the notary certifies in it: the signer's personal appearance on the date and in the county shown, the signer's identity, and that the signer acknowledged executing the document.

The acknowledgment and jurat forms the handbook prints both open with a box that limits the certificate to who signed. It vouches for nothing about the document's truthfulness, accuracy or validity. A certificate on a will's signature says nothing about whether the will meets Probate Code section 6110.

The handbook does not mention wills, so it neither adds a step for them nor exempts them from any rule. Which certificate a document gets, and who decides, is covered in Acknowledgment vs. Jurat: The Choice a California Notary Cannot Make.

The advice line

A signer may ask whether a will needs a notary, whether it needs witnesses, or whether it is valid. Each is a question about a legal document, and the handbook's practice-of-law paragraph says what a notary does with it:

California notaries are prohibited from performing any duties that may be construed as the practice of law. Among the acts which constitute the practice of law are the preparation, drafting, or selection or determination of the kind of any legal document, or giving advice in relation to any legal documents or matters. If asked to perform such tasks, a California notary public should decline and refer the requester to an attorney.

The list opens with "Among the acts", so it does not claim to be complete. Drafting a will, deciding what kind of document it should be, and telling a signer whether it is valid all fall inside the acts it names. Government Code section 8214.1 makes it a ground for discipline: the Secretary of State may refuse to appoint, or may revoke or suspend a commission, for "The practice of law in violation of Section 6125 of the Business and Professions Code."

Probate Code sections 6110 to 6112 are quoted here so that a notary knows what the law asks of a will, not as answers to give a signer.

Can the notary also sign as a witness?

Probate Code section 6112 is the section on witnesses. Its first subdivision sets the test:

(a) Any person generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will.

Section 6112 does not mention notaries. It neither names them as witnesses nor excludes them.

The rest of the section is about an interested witness. Subdivision (b): "A will or any provision thereof is not invalid because the will is signed by an interested witness." Under subdivision (c), a devise to a subscribing witness creates "a presumption that the witness procured the devise by duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence", unless the will has "at least two other subscribing witnesses" who are disinterested. The presumption "does not apply where the witness is a person to whom the devise is made solely in a fiduciary capacity." Subdivision (d) says what the witness takes if the presumption is not rebutted.

Witnessing and notarizing the same will

No source captured for this guide settles whether one person may sign a will as a witness and also notarize a signature on it. Probate Code section 6112 does not address it, and the handbook does not mention wills. Two notary rules come near the question without answering it:

Government Code section 8224.1 says "A notary public shall not take the acknowledgment or proof of instruments of writing executed by the notary public". The sources do not say whether signing a will as a witness is executing it within the meaning of that section.
Government Code section 8224 bars a notary from performing "any notarial act in connection with such transaction" when the notary has "a direct financial or beneficial interest" in it. Its two tests of that interest are written for a financial transaction and for real property. The handbook's own summary of the rule reads: "A notary public may notarize documents for relatives or others, unless doing so would provide a direct financial or beneficial interest to the notary public." Neither the statute nor the summary says how it applies to a will, for instance one that leaves something to the notary.

For a notary in doubt about an interest, the handbook's conflict-of-interest passage ends: "If in doubt as to whether or not to notarize, the notary public should seek the advice of an attorney."

Not the same thing: proof of execution by a subscribing witness

The handbook has a notarial act with "witness" in its name, and it is a different act from witnessing a will.

A proof of execution is for a principal who has signed and does not come before the notary: "If a person, called the principal, has signed a document but does not personally appear before a notary public, another person can appear on the principal's behalf to prove the principal signed (or 'executed') the document. That person is called a subscribing witness." The handbook cites Code of Civil Procedure section 1935, which defines the term: "A subscribing witness is one who sees a writing executed or hears it acknowledged, and at the request of the party thereupon signs his name as a witness."

In a proof of execution, the subscribing witness comes before the notary and is identified by the oath of a credible witness. Under oath, the subscribing witness says that the principal, whom the witness personally knows, is the person described in the document, that the witness saw the principal sign or heard the principal acknowledge signing, and that the principal asked the witness to sign as a witness and the witness did so. The subscribing witness signs the notary's journal, and the notary completes a proof of execution certificate. The handbook also lists documents on which a proof of execution cannot be used. The steps are set out in Acknowledgment vs. Jurat.

The witnesses in Probate Code section 6110(c)(1) sign the will itself, during the testator's lifetime, and the section names no notary. Probate Code section 6112(c) also calls a will's witnesses "subscribing witnesses", but signing a will as one of its witnesses is not the handbook's proof of execution.

Short answers

Can a California notary notarize a will? The handbook does not mention wills. If a signer asks for a notarization, the certificate covers the signature and, in the form's words, not the "validity of that document." Probate Code section 6110 does not list a notarization among its requirements.

Can a notary be a witness to a will? Probate Code section 6112(a) lets any person generally competent to be a witness act as one, and does not mention notaries.

Can the same person witness the will and notarize it? The sources quoted here do not settle it. See the two rules above that come near the question.

Can a notary tell a signer whether a will is valid, or help write one? The handbook says to decline. It counts the preparation or drafting of any legal document, and advice about one, among the acts that constitute the practice of law, and says to decline and refer the requester to an attorney.

Acknowledgment vs. Jurat: The Choice a California Notary Cannot Make, on the certificates, who chooses one, and proof of execution by a subscribing witness.
What a California Notary Cannot Do, on the practice-of-law line and the other prohibitions.
Notarizing Real Estate Documents and Powers of Attorney in California, on the documents the handbook does single out, powers of attorney among them.

What the sources do not say

These are fair questions that Probate Code sections 6110 to 6112 and the January 2026 handbook leave open. They are listed so this page's silence isn't read as an answer.

Whether a notarization has any effect on a will. Probate Code section 6110 does not list one, and the handbook does not discuss wills.
Whether one person may both witness a will and notarize a signature on it.
Whether signing a will as a witness is executing it for Government Code section 8224.1.
How Government Code section 8224 applies to a will, including one that leaves something to the notary.
Whether a subscribing witness's proof of execution may be used for a will. The handbook's list of documents on which it cannot be used does not mention wills, and no source says either way.
What else Part 1 of Division 6 provides. Probate Code section 6110(a) opens "Except as provided in this part", and this guide quotes three of the part's sections.
What "generally competent to be a witness" means. Probate Code section 6112(a) does not define it, and the general law on who is competent to be a witness, which it relies on, is not captured here.
How a will is proved after the testator's death. That is governed by other parts of the Probate Code, which this guide does not cover.

Official sources

Check the source before you rely on a rule.

California Probate Code sections 6110, 6111 and 6112 — California Legislative Information, section 6110, section 6111, section 6112
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

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.

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