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CA Journal Entry Card

Jermaine Fields · Commission #2563256 · statute text verified Aug 10, 2026

ONE JOURNAL. ALWAYS.

§8206(a)(1) — one active sequential journal at a time, for every official act. No separate book for loan signings. It must stay in a locked, secured area under your direct and exclusive control. Failure to secure it is independent grounds for the Secretary of State to act against your commission under §8214.1. Not left in the car between appointments.

The 7 required fields — §8206(a)(2)

Date, time, and type of actAcknowledgment or jurat. Time, not just date.

Character of the instrumentWhat the document is — "Deed of Trust," "Occupancy Affidavit."

Signature of the personThey sign your journal. Wet signature, every entry.

How you identified themType of ID · issuing agency · serial/ID number · date of issue or expiration. Or the credible witness's signature.

Two-credible-witness detailOnly if used — record each witness's ID type, number, and issue/expiration date.

Fee chargedWrite $0 if you waived it. Never leave it blank.

ThumbprintWhen triggered — see below.

Assume one journal line per notarial act. Some journals advertise multiple notarizations per line; §8206(a)(2) requires the entries for each official act, and that's the safe practice in CA.

Thumbprint — when it's mandatory

Right thumb. If unavailable, left thumb. If neither, any finger — and note which one in the journal. If physically impossible, write that in the journal plus an explanation of the condition. §8206(a)(2)(G)

Triggers

Deed
Quitclaim deed
Deed of trust
Any other document affecting real property
Power of attorney

The only two exceptions

Trustee's deed from a decree of foreclosure or nonjudicial foreclosure (Civ. Code §2924)
Deed of reconveyance

Practical rule at the table: if the document changes who owns, encumbers, or releases an interest in real property — thumbprint. When in doubt, take it. There is no penalty for an extra thumbprint.

Satisfactory evidence — acceptable ID

Primary (no age limit on the doc beyond being current)

CA driver's license or DMV ID card
U.S. passport or passport card
Inmate ID issued by CDCR, if the inmate is in custody
Inmate ID issued by a sheriff's department, if in a local facility

Secondary — all four conditions must hold

Photograph · physical description · bearer's signature · serial or identifying number — and current or issued within the past five years.

Foreign passport
Driver's license from another U.S. state, Canada, or Mexico
ID card issued by another U.S. state
U.S. military ID
Employee ID issued by a CA state agency, city, county, or city and county
ID card issued by a federally recognized tribal government

The five-year rule is the one that catches people. An expired-but-under-5-years secondary ID is acceptable. A secondary ID issued more than five years ago is not — even if it hasn't expired. Check the issue date, not just the expiration.

Civ. Code §1185(b)(3)–(4)

Credible witnesses

One witness

Must be personally known to you. They swear under oath to the signer's identity. Record their signature in your journal.

Two witnesses

Used when you don't personally know anyone. Each witness proves their own identity to you with a qualifying §1185(b)(3) or (4) document. Record each witness's ID type, ID number, and issue/expiration date.

A credible witness is disqualified if they have a financial interest in the document or are named in it. Ask both questions out loud before you swear them.

Loan package — typical notarized docs

Varies by lender. Always read the certificate wording on the document — it tells you the act. Never choose the act for the signer.

Document	Usual act	Print?
Deed of Trust / Mortgage	Ack	YES
Grant Deed (purchase)	Ack	YES
Quitclaim Deed	Ack	YES
Subordination Agreement	Ack	YES
Power of Attorney	Ack	YES
Signature / Name Affidavit	Ack or Jurat	No
Occupancy Affidavit	Often Jurat	No
Compliance / Correction Agmt	Ack	No
Errors & Omissions	Ack	No

A single-borrower refi typically runs 4–5 notarized documents. Two borrowers doubles it. That's 8–10 journal lines per signing — budget your journal accordingly. A 488-entry book is roughly 50–100 signings.

Fees — §8211

$15 maximum per signature notarized. Per signature, not per document.
You may charge less, or nothing.
Travel fee has no statutory cap — but it must be disclosed and agreed before you travel.
Loan signing fees are arranged with title/escrow, not the borrower.
Record what you actually charged in the journal, every entry.

Hard stops

Never say "notario" or "notario público." §8219.5 — minimum one-year suspension, permanent revocation on a second offense. If a caller or signer uses it, don't repeat it.
No legal advice. You cannot explain what a document means, whether they should sign, or which act they need.
Never notarize a loan you originated. §8224 — financial interest. Also breaches §VI.E/F of your NEXA contract. Refer to LO Support.
Signer must be physically present and sign your journal in front of you.
Never backdate. Not for anyone, not for any reason.
No blanks in the document. If the certificate or document has blank spaces, they get filled or lined through before you stamp.
No proof of execution on real property documents. Civ. Code §1195(b)(1) — a subscribing-witness proof cannot be used for a grant deed, mortgage, deed of trust, quitclaim deed, security agreement, or other instrument affecting real property. Exceptions: trustee's deeds and reconveyances. Verify against the SOS handbook before you ever rely on this.
You must be able to communicate directly with the signer. No interpreter.

Journal duties people forget

If it's lost, stolen, or damaged

Notify the Secretary of State immediately by certified/registered mail or any delivery that gives you a receipt. Include the period of the entries, your commission number, the expiration date, and a copy of any police report. §8206(b)

Public copy requests

Any member of the public may request a photostatic copy of a specific line item in writing — naming the parties, document type, and month/year. You must supply it at no more than 30¢ per page. §8206(c)

It's yours, not anyone's employer's

The journal is your exclusive property. You never surrender it to an employer — even one who paid for it. The only exceptions: the county clerk under §8209, a subpoena or court order, or a peace officer with reasonable suspicion (get a receipt, then notify the SOS within 10 days). §8206(d)–(e)

If a peace officer takes your journal: get a receipt, notify the SOS by certified mail within 10 days, and start a new journal. If the old one comes back, make no new entries in it.

The bag — what's in it, every time

Non-negotiable

Both seals — Trodat 4913 (rectangle) and 4912 (small, for tight certificate blocks)
Spare ink cartridge for each — see reorder table
Journal, in a locking bag. §8206 requires locked and secured storage, and "in the trunk" isn't that
Inkless thumbprint pad
Loose CA notarial certificates — at least 10 acknowledgments, 10 jurats
Pens — blue and black, at least four. Most title companies want blue so originals read as originals; some lenders specify black. Two signers means two pens, and one always walks off

Saves the trip

Small flashlight — reading holograms and issue dates on an ID in dim light
Hand wipes, for after thumbprints
Phone battery pack — scanbacks die on a dead phone
Printed contact for the title company and hiring party

Why loose certificates matter. A CA notary must use California certificate wording. Loan packages routinely arrive with out-of-state certificates, or with a certificate missing the §1189 disclaimer box. You attach a compliant CA certificate to the document — you do not stamp a defective one, and you do not choose the act for the signer. No loose certs in the bag means a canceled signing.

You don't have to buy these. The wording is statutory. CA_Notarial_Certificates.pdf — page 1 acknowledgment (Civ. Code §1189(a)(3)), page 2 jurat (Gov. Code §8202(d)), both verbatim with the required boxed notice. Print 10 of each on plain letter paper and keep them flat in the bag.

Attaching a loose certificate

Only when the existing certificate is defective or non-California. If the document already has compliant CA wording, use it. Don't attach a second one.
Never detach a certificate from another document. Never reuse one. Each is single-use, attached to one document.
Fill in the optional description block. Title of document, date, page count, and your journal entry number. It isn't required by law — it's what stops someone peeling your certificate off and stapling it to something else.
Staple it to the document before you hand the package back. A loose certificate riding unattached in a FedEx envelope is how they end up on the wrong document.
Recording format: keep it full 8.5×11 with at least ½" side margins so the recorder accepts it as a page.

The act comes from the certificate, not from you. If a document arrives with no certificate at all and the signer doesn't know which they need, you cannot choose for them — that's legal advice. They contact the document's issuer or their attorney. You wait.

Consumables + reorder triggers

Item	Lasts	Reorder at
Trodat 4913 ink cartridge 6/4913	~500 impressions	First faint stamp
Trodat 4912 ink cartridge 6/4912	~500 impressions	First faint stamp
Journal 488 entries	~100 signings	Entry 440
Thumbprint pad	1,500–2,000 prints	Years out
Loose certificates	—	Below 5 of either

The useful coincidence: a 500-impression cartridge and a 488-entry journal both run about 100 signings at 4–6 notarizations each. They die together. Reorder them together.

Never re-ink a self-inking stamp with generic stamp ink. Wrong ink bleeds and blurs the impression. California requires the seal to be photographically reproducible — a bleeding seal gets the document rejected at recording, and a re-signing comes out of your pocket. Manufacturer cartridge only, same color that's in it now. Match the model number printed on the stamp, not your memory.

Buffer rule: reorder the journal at entry 440, not 488. You cannot legally start a second journal while the first is active, and you cannot notarize without one. Running out mid-week costs you every signing until the replacement lands.

30-second close-out, every signing

Every journal line has a signature — theirs, not yours
Every thumbprint-triggering doc got a print
ID issue/expiration date recorded, not just the number
Fee written on every line, $0 if waived
No blank fields anywhere on the page
Stamp impressions all legible — reink before the next job if any are faint
Journal back in the locked bag before you pull out

Jermaine Fields · CA Notary Public, Commission #2563256 · NMLS #2067609 · internal field reference, not legal advice · statute text pulled from Gov. Code §8206 and Civ. Code §1185, verified Aug 10, 2026 · the controlling source is the California Secretary of State Notary Public Handbook — when this card and the handbook disagree, the handbook wins.