California Notary Acknowledgement Form Amendment Will Affect Construction and Real Estate Documents

In 2014, the Governor of California signed into law a small but significant change to the notary acknowledgment form, a document which must be attached to, among other things, certain real property related filings with the County Clerk.

The amendment to section 1189 of the Civil Code was known as Senate Bill 1050 , in Chapter 197 of the 2014 Statutes.  According to the legislation, the certificate signed by a notary must explicitly state, in a separate enclosed box, that the notary is a witness ONLY to the identity of the document’s signor, and not to any information contained within the document. The law also requires the change to be reflected in a new Notary Acknowledgement Form. Specifically, the additional wording is:

“A notary public or other officer completing this certificate verifies only the identity of the individual who signed the document to which this certificate is attached, and not the truthfulness, accuracy, or validity of that document.”

The change became effective on January 1, 2015.  Therefore any document signed in front of a notary after that date must have the new Acknowledgement attached. Anything notarized in 2014 with the previous form will not be rejected by a County Clerk.

A notary public must be a witness to several important documents that are pertinent to the construction and real estate industries, such as: Release of Claim of Mechanics Lien, Lis Pendens and Deeds.