Your First 30 Days as a California Notary

A California notary commission can be in your hands before it is in effect. The handbook puts it in one sentence: "The commission does not take effect until the oath and bond are filed with the county clerk's office." The filing has a deadline, counted from a date the commission itself specifies, and the handbook allows no exceptions to it.

This guide sets out what follows the commission in its own order: the oath of office and bond; the seal, with the certificate of authorization a seal vendor has to see; the journal; and your first notarial act. Each step links to the guide that covers it in more detail.

Every rule 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. Where the handbook's own summary of a rule is worded differently from the statute it reproduces, this guide quotes both and follows the statute.

If you have not been appointed yet, start with How to Become a Notary in California. If you are being reappointed, the 30-day filing applies to your new commission too, and what missing it costs a renewing notary is set out in Three ways a reappointment falls back to six hours.

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.

Start with the date in the commission

The handbook states the deadline this way: once the commission has been issued, a person has "30 calendar days from the beginning of the term prescribed in the commission to take, subscribe, and file an oath of office and file a $15,000 surety bond with the county clerk's office." Government Code section 8204 fixes when that term begins: "The term of office of a notary public is for four years commencing with the date specified in the commission."

So the count runs from a date the commission specifies, not from the day the commission reaches you. The handbook doesn't say how a first commission reaches you or how long that takes. For a reappointment, its answer is that the commission "will be issued 30 days prior to the expiration date of your current commission if you have complied with all the requirements to become a notary public." Its note on the deadline reads: "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."

Within 30 days: the oath of office and the bond

Government Code section 8213(a) sets out the filing requirement:

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. A person appointed to be a notary public shall take and subscribe the oath of office either in the office of that county clerk or before another notary public in that county.

Which county, where the oath may be taken, the identification you show a county clerk, and how the filing can reach the clerk are all set out in step 6 of How to Become a Notary in California.

The handbook's summary words one of those rules differently from the statute. Its General Information section says "Government Code section 8213(a) permits the filing of completed oaths and bonds by the applicable county clerk by certified mail or other means of physical delivery that provides a receipt." Section 8213(a) itself attaches that permission to one of its two cases: "If the oath of office is taken and subscribed before a notary public, the oath and bond may be filed with the county clerk by certified mail or any other means of physical delivery that provides a receipt." The statute grants mailing in that case and says nothing either way about the other. Where the summary and the statute differ, the statute is the text to follow. Whenever you do mail, the handbook's next sentence applies: "If mailing an oath and bond to the county clerk, sufficient time must be allowed by the newly appointed notary public to ensure timely filing."

Section 8212 sets the bond's amount and form: "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." The handbook adds that "The notary public bond is not an insurance policy for the notary public." What the bond is for, and what you stay liable for, is in step 7 of the same guide.

After you file

Section 8213(a) also says what happens next. The county clerk "shall immediately transmit to the Secretary of State a certificate setting forth the fact of the filing", and "shall immediately deliver the bond to the county recorder for recording." The recording fee falls to you: "The recording fee specified in Section 27361 of the Government Code shall be paid by the person appointed a notary public." The handbook does not reproduce section 27361 and gives no amount. Then, under section 8213(e), "The county recorder shall record the bond and shall thereafter mail, unless specified to the contrary, it to the person named in the instrument".

If the 30 days run out

The handbook: "If the oath and bond are not filed within the 30-calendar-day time period, the commission will not be valid, and the person commissioned may not act as a notary public until a new appointment is obtained and the person has properly qualified within the 30-calendar-day time limit."

For a new applicant who took the six-hour course, the handbook's answer to a missed filing is a new application, with "a current Proof of Completion certificate" attached, a passport photograph and a check for twenty dollars. That part of the answer ends: "You also will need to have your fingerprints retaken at a Live Scan site." The handbook does not say how long a Proof of Completion stays current. The notary education regulations set a limit, and How California Regulates Notary Education quotes it.

The seal, and the certificate of authorization you need first

Government Code section 8207.2(a) controls who may make or sell a seal: "No notary seal or press stamp shall be manufactured, duplicated, sold, or offered for sale unless authorized by the Secretary of State." The Secretary of State issues "a permit with a sequential identification number to each manufacturer or vendor authorized to issue notary seals" (section 8207.2(c)), and a certificate of authorization to the notary, under section 8207.3:

(a) The Secretary of State shall issue certificates of authorization with which a notary public can obtain an official notary seal.

(b) A vendor or manufacturer is authorized to provide a notary with an official seal only upon presentation by the notary public of a certificate of authorization.

Section 8207.3(d) says what happens to the certificate once you present it. A copy stays with the vendor, and "the original, which shall contain a sample impression of the seal issued to the notary public, shall be submitted to the Secretary of State for verification and recordkeeping."

The handbook doesn't say when a first-time notary receives a certificate of authorization, or whether it comes with the commission. What it says about when a certificate is issued concerns two other situations. After a notary's business moves to a new county and the notary chooses to file there: "A certificate of authorization to manufacture a notary public seal will be sent to you once the Secretary of State has received and processed your oath of office filed in the new county." And for a seal that is lost or otherwise unworkable, section 8207.3(e) has the Secretary of State issue one "within five working days after receipt of the notice, if requested by a notary". Neither describes a first commission, so don't treat either as a timetable for yours.

Several of the seal's required elements come from the steps above: your name "as shown on the commission", "the name of the county where the oath and bond were filed", and your commission number, which the seal carries alongside "the identification number assigned to the seal manufacturer or vendor". The commission number is the sequential identification number section 8207.1 has the Secretary of State assign to each notary, and it "shall appear on the notary commission." Because the seal names the county of the filing, this guide puts the filing first.

The full list of elements, with the size and border rules and an exception for subdivision map acknowledgments, is in the seal section of the first-appointment guide. The handbook also cautions notaries "to make sure that the notary public stamp leaves a clear impression", and adds: "All the elements must be discernible."

Once you have the seal, section 8207 governs where it is kept: "The seal shall be kept in a locked and secured area, under the direct and exclusive control of the notary. Failure to secure the seal shall be cause for the Secretary of State to take administrative action against the commission held by the notary public pursuant to Section 8214.1." The seal is also yours, and it "shall not be surrendered to an employer upon the termination of employment, whether or not the employer paid for the seal, or to any other person."

The handbook's summary of the seal misdemeanor and section 8228.1(a) are not worded the same way. The summary: "A notary public is guilty of a misdemeanor if the notary public willfully fails to keep the notary public seal under the notary public's direct and exclusive control or if the notary public willfully surrenders the notary public's seal to any person not authorized to possess it." The statute puts willfully before the failure to keep the seal under your control, and its clause on surrender does not carry the word: the misdemeanor reaches any notary public "who surrenders the seal of the notary public to any person not otherwise authorized by law to possess the seal of the notary".

If the seal is ever lost or stolen, what to do is in Keeping Your Notary Commission in Good Standing.

Setting up the journal

Nothing in the handbook comparable to the seal's certificate of authorization applies to a journal: sections 8207.2 and 8207.3 are written about seals and stamps. Section 8206(a)(1) requires "one active sequential journal at a time, of all official acts performed as a notary public", kept in a locked and secured area under your direct and exclusive control, and those rules apply from the first entry. What counts as secured, why copies of what you notarize are not a journal, and why the book stays yours when a job ends are set out in California Notary Journal Requirements, which also covers who else can see it and what every entry has to contain.

Your first notarial act

The first act comes after the filing, since the commission is not in effect until then. The list below follows one act from start to finish, with the guide that covers each part. It is not every rule that can apply to a notarial act.

The signer appears in person, and the document is one you may notarize. The handbook: "California law requires a person to appear personally before a notary public to obtain notarial acts like acknowledgments or jurats." You may not notarize a document that is incomplete, a document you signed yourself, or one in which you have a direct financial or beneficial interest (Government Code sections 8205, 8224.1 and 8224). Those rules, and the other acts the statutes take away from a notary, are in What a California Notary Cannot Do.
The document needs the correct notarial wording, and choosing it is not your job. In its notes on the certificate forms, the handbook says "a notary public seal and signature cannot be affixed to a document without the correct notarial wording." It also counts "selection or determination of the kind of any legal document" among the acts that constitute the practice of law, and tells a notary asked to do that to "decline and refer the requester to an attorney." Acknowledgment vs. Jurat sets out what that leaves you to do.
You identify the signer by satisfactory evidence. Knowing the person does not do it: "An acknowledgment may not be taken or a jurat executed on the basis of personal knowledge alone." Which documents qualify, and the conditions on using a credible witness instead, are in How to Identify a Signer in California.
A jurat adds an oath and a signature you watch. Section 8202(a): "When executing a jurat, a notary shall administer an oath or affirmation to the affiant", and "The affiant shall sign the document in the presence of the notary." The oath is covered in The oath is the duty a jurat adds.
For an acknowledgment, you complete the certificate as you sign and seal. The handbook: "The certificate of acknowledgment must be filled completely out at the time the notary public's signature and seal are affixed." Failing to do so is a ground for discipline under Government Code section 8214.1(j). The handbook also cautions about where the seal goes: "The seal should not be placed over signatures or over any printed matter on the document." The certificate forms and their wording are in The wording, and why you may not improvise it.
The act goes in the journal, fee included. Each entry records the fee charged, and the handbook requires an entry "even if no fee was charged, such as 'no fee' or '0.'" For "a deed, quitclaim deed, deed of trust, or other document affecting real property, or a power of attorney document", section 8206(a)(2)(G) also calls for the signer's thumbprint in the journal, with fallback rules and an exception the handbook's summary leaves out. Both are in the thumbprint section of the journal guide.
The fee has a ceiling. Government Code section 8211 opens: "Fees charged by a notary public for the following services shall not exceed the fees prescribed by this section." Charging more is a ground for discipline under section 8214.1(h). The schedule is in What California Notaries Can Charge, and the change Assembly Bill 1597 makes to its dollar amounts on January 1, 2027 is in California's Maximum Notary Fees Rise on January 1, 2027.
No provision corrects a completed act. "There are no provisions in the law that allow for the correction of a completed notarial act." What the handbook tells you to do instead is in the journal guide.

After the first 30 days

The commission runs for four years from the date it specifies. Changing your address or your name, losing your seal or journal, and resigning each mean telling the Secretary of State something, and Keeping Your Notary Commission in Good Standing sets out what and when. What can put the commission itself at risk is in What a California Notary Cannot Do. When the term nears its end, How to Renew Your California Notary Commission covers reappointment, including the date that decides whether you owe the three-hour refresher or the six-hour course.

What the handbook does not say

These are questions a new notary will reasonably have that the January 2026 handbook does not answer, listed so that this page's silence is not read as an answer.

How a first commission reaches you, or how long that takes. For a reappointment the handbook says only when the commission will be issued. The 30 days run from the date the commission specifies either way.
A deadline for obtaining your first seal or journal. Section 8213 sets a 30-day deadline for a seal after a notary whose principal place of business moves to another county elects to make a new filing there (subdivision (b)), and after the filing that follows a name change (subdivision (c)). Nothing in the handbook sets one for a first commission. What sections 8207 and 8206 do require is that you "authenticate with the official seal all official acts", apart from the exceptions the handbook names, and that you keep a journal "of all official acts performed as a notary public."
What the bond, the seal, the journal or the county recording fee costs. No amount for any of them appears in the handbook. The $15,000 is the amount of the bond, not its price. What it costs lists every cost item the handbook names.
Where to buy a seal or a journal. Section 8207.2(c) has the Secretary of State issue permits to the manufacturers and vendors authorized to issue notary seals, and the handbook names none of them. It names no seller of journals either.
Whether the Secretary of State tells you it has your filing. Section 8213(a) has the county clerk send the Secretary of State a certificate of the filing, and section 8213(e) has the recorded bond mailed to the person named in it. The handbook does not say whether you hear from the Secretary of State after a first filing. The nearest it comes is the county-change answer, under which a certificate of authorization is sent once the Secretary of State has processed an oath filed in the new county.
The county clerk's office hours, whether it takes appointments, or how it accepts payment. Your county clerk's office is the place to ask.

Official sources

Do not take an article's word for the day your 30 days end.

Your commission — the date it specifies begins the four-year term, and the 30-day count with it (Government Code sections 8204 and 8213(a))
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 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 →