California notary bond

What California requires

California's $15,000 bond is one of the most heavily litigated in the country because of the volume of real estate and loan signings performed by California notaries. The bond must be issued by a surety admitted in California and filed on the state form.

California law makes the bond a condition of the commission itself: the commissioning authority will not issue, or will not activate, the commission until the bond is on file. The bond is a faithful performance bond conditioned on the notary's honest and lawful discharge of every duty of the office. Any person who suffers a monetary loss because the notary failed in that duty, whether through negligence, an improper acknowledgment, a defective identification of a signer, or outright fraud, may make a claim against it up to the $15,000.

Filing the bond in California

California is unusual: the bond is not sent to the Secretary of State. Within 30 calendar days of the commencement date printed on the commission, the notary must file the original bond and take the oath of office with the county clerk of the county where the notary's principal place of business is located. Missing the 30-day window voids the commission.

We issue the bond on the form the California Secretary of State prescribes, executed by the surety and with a power of attorney attached where the jurisdiction requires it. You sign as principal where indicated and file. If your jurisdiction requires the notary's signature on the bond to be acknowledged, the instructions that accompany the bond say so.

Cost of a California notary bond

Our total price is $78 for the entire 4 years term. That figure is the surety premium plus a forty-dollar processing fee; there is no application fee, no shipping charge and nothing added at checkout. Divided over the term it is a few dollars a month for the bond that makes your commission possible.

The premium is not a percentage of the bond amount in the way contract and license bonds are priced. Notary bonds are rated as a class because the claim frequency is low and the penalties are modest, which is why a $15,000 bond costs only a fraction of its face value.

Remote online, electronic and eNotary commissions

California's online notarization article (SB 696, 2023) fixes the surety's liability at $25,000 for online notarial acts, against $15,000 for traditional acts, with the surety's aggregate liability capped at $25,000 (Cal. Gov. Code § 8231.10). Online commissions are being implemented on the Secretary of State's schedule; the online bond is individually quoted.

The bond is not insurance for you

The single most misunderstood feature of a notary bond is who it protects. The bond protects the people who rely on your notarial acts and the State that commissioned you. When the surety pays a claim, it is entitled to full reimbursement from you, the principal, because the surety's promise is a guarantee of your performance, not a transfer of your risk. Notary Errors & Omissions insurance is the product that transfers the risk: it pays claims for honest errors in your official notarial acts with nothing to repay, and it can pay the defense costs of a claim that turns out to be groundless. Notary E&O is available on the same application, at a discounted rate for bond purchasers.

California notary bond questions