Keeping Your Notary Commission in Good Standing

Some duties in California notary law start with a change in the notary's own circumstances. A new home or business address, a new name, a lost or stolen journal or seal, and a resignation each require something to reach the Secretary of State or a county clerk. The deadlines are not the same: 30 days for an address, immediately for a lost journal, 10 days for a seized one, and no stated number of days for the application that starts a name change.

The penalties differ as well. Willful failure to report a change of address, or a name change, is punishable as an infraction by a fine of up to $500. Willful failure to report the theft or loss of the journal is a ground on which the Secretary of State may revoke or suspend a commission. And a notary who resigns and then willfully fails or refuses to deliver the notarial records and papers to the county clerk within 30 days is guilty of a misdemeanor under Government Code section 8209(a).

This guide is for a notary whose commission is already in effect. Getting one is covered in How to Become a Notary in California, and the weeks after it is issued in the first-30-days guide. Reappointment has its own guide, How to Renew Your California Notary Commission. So do the journal and the prohibitions, and the sections below link to those where the subjects meet.

Everything below is drawn from the California Notary Public Handbook, January 2026 edition, published by the Secretary of State, and from the code sections that handbook reproduces or cites. In several places the handbook's summary of a rule and the statute it reproduces say different things. Where they do, this guide quotes both and follows the statute.

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. 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. This page is general information about California notary law, not legal advice.

The deadlines this guide covers

Section numbers are to the Government Code. Each rule is shortened here, and the sections after the table quote the text behind it, including the conditions a table row leaves out.

When your address changes

Section 8213.5 is three sentences long. The first sets the duty:

A notary public shall notify the Secretary of State by certified mail or any other means of physical delivery that provides a receipt within 30 days as to any change in the location or address of the principal place of business or residence.

The second is a restriction that neither the handbook's General Information summary nor its answers on a changed address mention:

A notary public shall not use a commercial mail receiving agency or post office box as his or her principal place of business or residence, unless the notary public also provides the Secretary of State with a physical street address as the principal place of residence.

So a post office box or a commercial mail receiving agency can stand as your principal place of business or residence only if you also give the Secretary of State a physical street address, and the statute asks for that street address as your principal place of residence.

The third sentence is the penalty: "Willful failure to notify the Secretary of State of a change of address shall be punishable as an infraction by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500)." The fine is written for a willful failure, and the handbook never defines the word. Willful, and what the word is worth collects other places it appears.

General Information adds that the notice costs nothing to process: "There is no fee for the processing of address change notifications with the Secretary of State." It asks that the notice be signed and dated, and it lists what to include "To ensure proper processing":

• your name "exactly as it appears on the commission certificate";
• your commission number and the commission's expiration date;
• whether the change is to your business, residence or mailing address, or to more than one;
• the new address, with the business name if the change is to your business.

The notice does not have to be on a form. The handbook's answer on a changed address says "We recommend using the Address Change form available on the Secretary of State website", and that notification "also may be submitted via free form letter."

Where the handbook and the statute differ. The handbook asks the question as "I have changed my business, mailing or home address. What do I do?", and its note asks whether a change is "for mailing purposes". Section 8213.5 sets its duty for a change to "the principal place of business or residence" and does not mention a mailing address. The statute is the text that sets the duty. The handbook's instructions go further and ask to be told about a mailing address as well.

Moving your principal place of business to another county does not require a new oath and bond. General Information says filing them in the new county "is permissive, but not required," and the handbook's answer on a county change says "a county transfer is not required." If you do choose to file, section 8213(b) attaches a seal deadline to that choice: "If the notary public elects to make a new filing, the notary public shall, within 30 days of the filing, obtain an official seal which shall include the name of the county to which the notary public has transferred." The oath form, the county transfer box, the certificate of authorization and the fees are set out in If you moved counties since your last term, in the renewal guide. Nothing in those rules is tied to reappointment.

When your name changes

A name change goes to the Secretary of State first and to the county clerk second, and it contains two 30-day periods.

1. Apply to the Secretary of State. Section 8213.6: "If a notary public changes his or her name, the notary public shall complete an application for name change form and file that application with the Secretary of State."
2. Receive the amended commission. "Upon approval of the name change form, the Secretary of State shall issue a commission that reflects the new name of the notary public. The term of the commission and commission number shall remain the same."
3. File a new oath and a bond amendment within 30 days of the date it is issued. Section 8213(c) requires you, "within 30 days from the date an amended commission is issued," to "file a new oath of office and an amendment to the bond with the county clerk in which the principal place of business is located." If your application for name change also changed your principal place of business address, "either a new or duplicate of the original bond shall be filed with the county clerk with the amendment to the bond."
4. Obtain a new seal within 30 days of that filing. "The notary public shall, within 30 days of the filing, obtain an official seal that includes the name of the notary public and the name of the county to which the notary public has transferred, if applicable."

The statute also says when the new name takes effect, and what a late filing does to it: "The amended commission with the name change shall not take effect unless the filing is completed within the 30-day period. The amended commission with the name change takes effect the date the oath and amendment to the bond is filed with the county clerk."

The handbook's answer on a name change covers both sides of that date. After the filing: "Once the amended oath and bond are filed, you may no longer use the commission, including the stamp, that was issued in your previous name." After a missed deadline: "If you fail to file your amended oath and bond within the 30-day time limit, the name change will become void, and your commission will revert to the previous name, and you will be required to submit another Name Change form." The statute's sentence is the narrower of the two. On a missed deadline it says only that the amended commission "shall not take effect", and the rest of that answer is the handbook's account of what follows.

The handbook's answer does not mention a penalty, or that your term and commission number stay the same. Section 8213.6 ends with its own penalty: "Willful failure to notify the Secretary of State of a name change shall be punishable as an infraction by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500)." Neither the statute nor the handbook sets a number of days for filing the application itself; the first 30-day period runs only from the date the amended commission is issued.

If your seal or journal is lost, stolen or damaged

The handbook answers a lost stamp and a lost journal together, under the question "I lost my stamp or journal. What do I do?", and cites two sections for its answer. Those two sections do not ask for the same notice.

The journal, under section 8206(b). The duty applies when a journal "is stolen, lost, misplaced, destroyed, damaged, or otherwise rendered unusable as a record of notarial acts and information". You notify the Secretary of State immediately "by certified or registered mail or any other means of physical delivery that provides a receipt", and the notice includes the period of the journal entries, your commission number, the commission's expiration date and, when applicable, a photocopy of any police report that specifies the theft. The journal guide covers the rest of that notice, including what when applicable means for the police report and what happens when a peace officer seizes the book, in If the journal is lost, stolen, damaged, or seized.

The seal, under section 8207.3(e). Its wording is different:

Any notary whose official seal is lost, misplaced, destroyed, broken, damaged, or is rendered otherwise unworkable shall immediately mail or deliver written notice of that fact to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State, within five working days after receipt of the notice, if requested by a notary, shall issue a certificate of authorization which a notary may use to obtain a replacement seal.

The two sections differ in several places:

• How the notice travels. The seal section asks for written notice, mailed or delivered, and does not mention certified mail or a receipt. The handbook's answer tells you to use certified mail or another method that provides a receipt for the stamp and the journal alike. For the journal, section 8206(b) also allows registered mail.
• What the notice says. Section 8206(b) lists what a journal notice must include. Section 8207.3(e) asks for written notice "of that fact" and lists nothing more.
• Theft. The seal section's list does not include the word stolen. The form the handbook recommends is named the Report Lost or Stolen Seal and/or Journal form.
• The replacement. A certificate of authorization for a new seal is issued "if requested by a notary," within five working days after the Secretary of State receives the notice.

The handbook says there is no fee for that authorization, and names a form for requesting it: "There is no fee to request a Certificate of Authorization. However, a Duplicate Seal Authorization Request form must be mailed to the Secretary of State." Its answer on a lost stamp also says the Report Lost or Stolen Seal and/or Journal form "also will allow you to request a duplicate Certificate of Authorization so you can have a new stamp made". A replacement is an official seal like the first one, and it has to carry the elements listed in the seal in the first-appointment guide.

The penalties for not reporting are written differently as well, and each of these turns on the word willful. For the journal, section 8214.1(o) makes "willful failure to report the theft or loss of the sequential journal" a ground on which the Secretary of State may refuse, revoke or suspend, and section 8228.1(a) makes it a misdemeanor to willfully fail to perform "any duty required of a notary public under Section 8206". For the seal, section 8207.4(a) provides that "Any person who willfully violates any part of Section 8207, 8207.1, 8207.2, 8207.3, 8231.7, or 8231.8 shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) for each violation," recoverable in a civil action brought by the Attorney General, a district attorney or city attorney, or a city prosecutor in any city and county.

Section 8214.1(o) also names "Failure to secure the sequential journal of official acts, pursuant to Section 8206, or the official seal, pursuant to Section 8207", and that phrase does not contain the word willful. The handbook does not say when a loss amounts to a failure to secure. The journal's locked-and-secured rule is set out in One active journal, locked, and yours.

Resigning, and the other ways a commission ends

The handbook's answer to "How do I resign my commission?" is a short sequence:

Notify the Secretary of State. We recommend using the Notary Resignation form available on the Secretary of State's website. Once complete, send the form to the Secretary of State and deliver all of your notarial journals to the county in which your current oath of office was filed within 30 days and destroy your seal. Notification to the Secretary of State to resign your commission also may be submitted via a free form letter.

Resignation is one of the events section 8209(a) lists, so the statute and the handbook agree that a resigning notary owes the county clerk a delivery. They describe what is delivered, and what happens to the seal, in different words, and the statute is the text to follow:

• What goes to the county clerk. The answer says "all of your notarial journals". Section 8209(a) says "all notarial records and papers shall be delivered within 30 days to the clerk of the county in which the notary public's current official oath of office is on file." General Information says "all notarial journals, records and papers". Delivering the journals with every other notarial record and paper meets all three.
• The seal. The answer says to destroy it. Section 8207 says "The notary, or his or her representative, shall destroy or deface the seal upon termination, resignation, or revocation of the notary's commission."

General Information adds where the journals should not go: "Any notarial journals, records and papers delivered to the Secretary of State will be returned to the sender." And section 8209(a) attaches its penalty to willful conduct: "If the notary public willfully fails or refuses to deliver all notarial records and papers to the county clerk within 30 days, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be personally liable for damages to any person injured by that action or inaction."

Resigning does not end a disciplinary matter in the case section 8214.4 describes. Where the Secretary of State determines, "after proceedings conducted in accordance with Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 1 of Division 3", that a notary committed or omitted acts that are grounds for suspension or revocation, the section provides that "the resignation or expiration of the notary public's commission shall not bar the Secretary of State from instituting or continuing an investigation or instituting disciplinary proceedings." What an order under that section does to a later application is set out in Losing the commission does not close the file.

The handbook describes other endings as well, and they do not all carry the same duties. These are the ones this guide found in it:

• Expiration without reappointment. Section 8209(a) attaches the delivery duty when a notary "allows his or her appointment to expire without obtaining reappointment within 30 days". The handbook's General Information summary words that duty more broadly, and the seal rule is stated more than one way. Both are set out in Your journal and seal when a commission ends.
• Disqualification or removal from office. Both are in section 8209(a)'s list beside resignation, with the same 30-day delivery duty. The handbook does not define either term.
• Revocation by the Secretary of State. Section 8214.1 authorizes it on the grounds that section lists, and section 8207 names revocation as one of the events on which the seal is destroyed or defaced. Section 8209(a)'s list does not use the word revoked. The General Information summary attaches the journal duty to a commission that is "no longer valid".
• Revocation by a court. On a conviction of any offense in the notary chapter, of section 6203, or of any felony, section 8214.8 has the court revoke the commission and require the notary to surrender the seal to the court, which forwards it to the Secretary of State. The section is quoted in Where the conduct stops being administrative.
• Cancellation over a payment that is not honored. Section 8204.1: "The Secretary of State may cancel the commission of a notary public if a check or other remittance accepted as payment for the examination, application, commission, and fingerprint fee is not paid upon presentation to the financial institution upon which the check or other remittance was drawn." The Secretary of State first gives written notice that the section applies. If the amount is then not paid by a cashier's check or the equivalent, a second written notice of cancellation follows, "and the cancellation shall thereupon be effective." That second notice "shall be given at least 20 days after the first notice, and no more than 90 days after the commencement date of the commission."
• Death. Section 8209(b) puts the notice to the Secretary of State and the delivery of records on the notary's personal representative. See What happens to the journal when a commission ends.
• A military or naval reservation appointment. Section 8203.4 ends that appointment if the notary stops being a federal civil service employee at the reservation, and adds: "A notary public whose appointment terminates pursuant to this section will have such termination treated as a resignation."

What puts a commission at risk

Section 8214.1 lists the grounds on which the Secretary of State "may refuse to appoint any person as notary public or may revoke or suspend the commission of any notary public". What a California Notary Cannot Do walks through the prohibited acts and the penalties attached to them. Several of the grounds turn on something other than a notarial act, such as a conviction, action against a professional license, a court judgment or an unpaid amount:

• (b) "Conviction of a felony, a lesser offense involving moral turpitude, or a lesser offense of a nature incompatible with the duties of a notary public. A conviction after a plea of nolo contendere is deemed to be a conviction within the meaning of this subdivision."
• (c) "Revocation, suspension, restriction, or denial of a professional license, if the revocation, suspension, restriction, or denial was for misconduct based on dishonesty, or for any cause substantially relating to the duties or responsibilities of a notary public."
• (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."

General Information adds a ground from outside the notary chapter: the Secretary of State may deny an application or suspend the commission of a person who has not complied with child or family support obligations. It cites Family Code section 17520 for that and does not reproduce it. What a California Notary Cannot Do sets it beside another ground from outside section 8214.1.

Section 8201.1(e), in the fingerprinting section, provides: "The Secretary of State shall request from the department subsequent arrest notification service, pursuant to Section 11105.2 of the Penal Code, for each person who submitted information pursuant to subdivision (a)." The handbook does not reproduce Penal Code section 11105.2 and does not describe what that service reports.

Two duties run to the Secretary of State on written request. Section 8205(b) makes it a notary's duty "To furnish to the Secretary of State certified copies of the notary's journal", and to respond within 30 days of receiving written requests sent by certified mail or other physical delivery that provides a receipt "for information relating to official acts performed by the notary." General Information lists a failure to do either among its reasons for refusal, revocation or suspension. Who can see your journal, and what each of them gets sets that request beside the others a journal can receive.

The Secretary of State also publishes Notary Public Disciplinary Guidelines. The handbook describes them as available on the Secretary of State's website or by mail, and does not reproduce them.

What the handbook does not say

Each of these was looked for in the January 2026 handbook and is not answered there.

• How soon to file a name change. Section 8213.6 requires the application and fines a willful failure to notify, and neither it nor the handbook's answer gives a number of days for the application. The 30-day periods in section 8213(c) come later.
• Notarizing between the filing and the new seal. After the amended oath and bond are filed, the handbook says the stamp issued in your previous name may no longer be used, and section 8213(c) allows 30 days from that filing to obtain the new seal. Nothing in the handbook addresses the days in between.
• The certificate of authorization for a new-name seal. A vendor or manufacturer may provide an official seal "only upon presentation by the notary public of a certificate of authorization" (section 8207.3(b)). The handbook's name-change answer does not mention one. Its county-change answer says a certificate of authorization is sent once the Secretary of State has processed the oath filed in the new county.
• Whether the two seal forms are alternatives. The lost-stamp answer says the Report Lost or Stolen Seal and/or Journal form lets you request a duplicate Certificate of Authorization. The fee answer says a Duplicate Seal Authorization Request form "must be mailed". The handbook does not say whether one takes the place of the other.
• A lost seal or journal that turns up. For a seized journal returned after you have obtained a new one, section 8206(d) says "the notary public shall make no new entries in the returned journal." The handbook gives no instruction for a journal or seal that was lost and is later found.
• When a resignation takes effect. Section 8209(a) allows 30 days for delivery without saying which day they are counted from. General Information counts them from "the date the notary public commission is no longer valid", and the resignation answer does not say what that date is for a resignation.
• The journal and seal after a suspension. Suspension is one of the actions section 8214.1 authorizes. Section 8209(a) names resignation, disqualification, removal from office and expiration without reappointment, and section 8207 names termination, resignation and revocation. Neither names suspension. General Information attaches the journal delivery and the seal's destruction to a commission that is "no longer valid", and does not say whether a suspended commission is one.
• Reporting an arrest or conviction during a term. The disclosure duty the handbook describes is attached to applications: failure to disclose conviction information "on each application for an appointment or reappointment" is a ground for denial. The handbook states no duty to report an arrest or conviction in the middle of a term.
• Which date meets a mailed deadline. The address, journal, seal and seizure notices each name a way of sending and a deadline. None of them says whether a notice counts on the day it is sent or the day it arrives.
• Whether a reported address is public. Section 8201.5 makes an applicant's name and address the exception to the confidentiality of the application form, and section 8213.6 applies those confidentiality provisions to the name change form. The handbook says nothing about how an address change notice is treated.

Official sources

Do not take an article's word for a deadline that carries a fine.

• California Notary Public Handbook, plus a checklist of the required steps to become a notary public — www.sos.ca.gov/notary
• Forms — the Address Change, Report Lost or Stolen Seal and/or Journal, Report of Notary Journal Seizure and Notary Resignation forms, which the handbook describes as available on the Secretary of State's website — www.sos.ca.gov/notary
• Notary Public Disciplinary Guidelines — published by the Secretary of State apart from the handbook, and available on its website or mailed on request. (Government Code section 8220.)
• Approved education vendors — notaryeducation.sos.ca.gov
• 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 on August 26, 2026 — the six-hour course for first-time applicants and the three-hour refresher for renewing notaries who meet all three of its conditions — 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. Which of the two a renewing notary needs is worked out in Six-Hour vs. Three-Hour California Notary Course.

See the courses →