Posted by Joan Bergstrom on 11/15/07 12:49am
Msg #221356

CA 2008 Notary Law Changes

It unbelievable how many schools have jumped on the bandwagon and are offering classes at $59-$79?

This is not Rocket Science!!

Some of the 2008 changes involve procedures with police and statues of limitations increasing for Notarial misconduct.

These types of changes only come up when you have legal issues and I am sure this is something the great majority of CA Notaries will never need to deal with.

The more important changes in my opinion are: All laws change begin January 1, 2008.

1. Personal Knowledge will no longer be allowed; you must ID everyone.

2. If you don't report a "Change of Address" to the Sec of State in 30 days you will be subject to a $500 fine.

3. One Credible Witness will require ID.

4. You must submit a 2inch by 2 inch picture of yourself when you submit an application to become a CA Notary.

5. Power of Attorney Certificates will now require a thumbprint (I think a CA notary should fingerprint every client but this is just a personal opinion.)

6. If our Sec of State wants to see a line item in our journal or another item in our journal we have 15 days to respond instead of the previous 30 days to respond.

7. If we don't get a thumbprint in our journal for the necessary documents, the notary is subject to a Civil fine of $2500.

I paraphrased all this and you can get the entire law changes on www.notaryclasses.com.

I can't imagine a CA notary actually needing a 4 hour class to understand these changes!! Just my opinion and maybe other Notaries disagree?

Reply by JanetK_CA on 11/15/07 1:12am
Msg #221357

Absolutely right, Joan! Very nice summation. Some of us have already voiced our opinion in agreement with your post. It's just another marketing opportunity, as you have stated. All the verbiage for new certificates is available via links at the SOS website: http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/notary/notary.htm. Click the link to "Legislation". The full text of the bill number can be found there.

And there is no reason why we can't create our own certificates and print them out ourselves. The only differences are the deletion of "personally known to me" and the addition of one more sentence at the end: "I certify under PENALTY OF PERJURY under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing paragraph is true and correct."

IMO, we all should be reading and studying the actual verbiage of the new laws anyway, so why not save your money. If you're not sure about some of the content, bring your questions here for discussion. I think that sort of thing is what this board is SUPPOSED to be all about.

Reply by GWest on 11/15/07 8:47am
Msg #221379

One other change is the certificate of acknowledgement now is executed under penalty of perjury. New acknowledgement forms must be completed.

Reply by DogmongerCA on 11/15/07 9:02am
Msg #221383

It is not different than

charging almost one hundred dollars for a paperback book on being a loan signging agent:-o

Reply by jba/fl on 11/15/07 9:10am
Msg #221385

Re: It is not different than

Esp. since it is out of date and hasn't changed along with the commonly used forms in place today.

Reply by Joan Bergstrom on 11/15/07 10:03am
Msg #221400

We have just updated the book

We will update it for the changes in 2008.

Reply by jba/fl on 11/15/07 12:28pm
Msg #221433

Which book Joan? NNA's? Ca's? n/m

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 11/15/07 12:38pm
Msg #221436

Re: Which book Joan? NNA's? Ca's?

Joan has just updated "How To Become A Wildly Successful Signing Agent"

Having the original one I can recommend it. Mostly helpful to CA signing agents, but I believe any "newbie" will benefit from it.

Reply by jba/fl on 11/15/07 1:12pm
Msg #221445

my misunderstanding. I thought ref was to NNA's book, which

has no changes since '02, at least not thru beg. 07. My apologies for confusion I may have caused. Ijust bristle when they are mentioned.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 11/15/07 1:13pm
Msg #221447

Re: my misunderstanding. I thought ref was to NNA's book, which

" I just bristle when they are mentioned."

Many of us suffer the same affliction