The Office Of The Notary Public

Question 0

The notary public accomplishes this goal by strictly following the guidelines when completing notary acts. These guidelines include verifying the __________ of a document signer and properly recording every notary act in an official notary journal of records.

Answer 0

Identity

Question 1

The primary goal of the ministerial duty of the notary public is to help protect the public from ________.

Answer 1

Fraud.

Question 2

The notary must always remain an impartial __________ and, as such, may never notarize his or her own _____________ or provide notarial services pertaining to any document to which the notary is named as principal.

Answer 2

Witness

Signature

Question 3

A California notary public may notarize documents ________ in the state of California except when the notary is appointed to a military or naval reservation. Such a notary public is restricted to providing notarial services specifically for that reservation.

Answer 3

Anywhere

Question 4

Taking an Acknowledgement is the most often completed notary act in which the notary is declaring under penalty of _______ that the document signer was properly ____ by the notary and that the document signer acknowledged with his or her signature to be the person named within the document.

Answer 4

Perjury

ID’d

Question 5

Administering a Jurat means that the document signer is required to swear an oath or affirmation that the contents of the document are true. Consequently, the document signer is sometimes referred to as a/an _______ since he or she is making a sworn “affidavit” before the notary public.

Answer 5

Affiant

Question 6

The only documents that a California notary public may certify are a copy of a Power of ________ and a copy of the notary’s journal entry or entries.

Answer 6

Attorney

Question 7

The notary must respond to the Secretary of State’s written inquiry within __ days or within the time-frame specified if otherwise stipulated

Answer 7

30

Question 8

The notary may notarize documents that come from any state or country as long as the request being made of the notary does not violate California notary law. An example of such a request would be when another country wants a notary to certify a birth certificate or an academic record. A more common example that a notary is not allowed to do is when another state or country wants a notary to verify the _____ of the document signer.

Answer 8

Title

Question 9

List the qualifications indicated in the manual to become a notary public in California:

Answer 9

Be a least 18 years of age
Be a legal resident of California
Pass a criminal background check
Complete the required education course
Submit a "Proof of Completion"
Pass the examination with a score of 70% or greater

Question 10

All notary applicants must submit a completed notary ___________ to the California Secretary of State.

Answer 10

Application

Question 11

If a notary public receives mail at a post office box or private commercial mailbox, this is known as his or her _______ address and may be used on the notary application, so long as a physical address is listed for the principal place of residence. The principal place of business may also be the notary’s place of residence.

Answer 11

Mailing

Question 12

Failure to disclose arrests for which a trial is pending or convictions on the notary application may be cause for ______ of the notary application.

Answer 12

Denial

Question 13

All notary applicants must sumit fingerprints via live scan to the Department of Justice (DOJ), who will forward the prints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and both will advise the California _________________ concerning any criminal history anywhere in the _______.

Answer 13

Secretary of State

Country

Question 14

The term of office for a California notary is ____ years, starting with the commencement date as listed in the letter of __________ issued by the Secretary of State. The notary also has a maximum of ______ calendar days to file an oath and bond with the county clerk.

Answer 14

4
Commission
30

Question 15

If you do not pass the notary exam, you will need to wait until the following calendar _____ to retake the exam, which will require an additional exam fee of ______.

Answer 15

Month

$20.00

Question 16

All notaries public must obtain and use an official notary _______.

Answer 16

Journal

Question 17

An independent notary public must notarize for anyone who ________ their services, is able to present proper identification, and is willing and able to pay for the services.

Answer 17

Requests

Question 18

Notaries who are notarizing documents in the capacity of an employee for the purposes of the employer may, upon arrangement with the employer, have their notarial services limited to the purposes of the employer during their ______________ only

Answer 18

Business hours

Question 19

Employee notaries public may elect to retain their commission upon termination of their employment, except those employee notaries who have obtained a commission for, and on behalf of the state of California, city or county public agency, ______ school district and those notaries who have obtained a commission specifically with a military or naval reservation.

Answer 19

Public

Question 20

Upon expiration or termination of a notary commission, the notary public has 30 days to turn all journals over to the ____________ where the notary had his or her oath and bond filed and the notary seal must be destroyed or defaced.

Answer 20

County clerk

Question 21

Those persons who have been appointed a behalf of a California state, city, county public agency, or school district to serve as a notary public for and on behalf of that public entity, and who have had their commissioning fees and other associated fees paid for by their employer are ___ permitted to notarize outside of their normal employment and such employee notaries must remit any ____ charged for notary services back to their employer.

Answer 21

Not

Fees

Question 22

California notaries personally own their commission, notary seal and bond regardless of who paid for them; and notaries are responsible for paying their own ______ fees when filing their oath and bond.

Answer 22

Filing

Question 23

If the employer of a notary public demands to copy the journal records associated with that employer, the notary must _________ the copying process, taking care to cover the line not associated with the employer and never allowing the journal out of the exclusive control of the notary public.

Answer 23

Supervise

Question 24

A notary is deemed not to have a financial or beneficial interest in a document if the notary is acting in the capacity of a/an ________, agent, ________, escrow officer, insurer, or ______ for the person having direct beneficial or financial interest in the document. However, a notary may not notarize any document for which they are named as a principal including: grantor, _______, mortgagor, _________, trustor, _______, beneficiary, vendor, ______, lessor or ______.

Answer 24

Attorney
Employee
Lender
Grantee
Mortgagee
Trustee 
Vendee
Lessee

Question 25

One of the most important duties of a notary is to take an Acknowledgement. An Acknowledgement means that the person who signed the document __________ appears before the notary and ____________ that they had the authorization (authorized capacity) to sign the document.

Answer 25

Personally

Acknowledges

Question 26

Taking Acknowledgements also means that the notary is signing under penalty of perjury that he or she properly _______ the identity of the signer and completed the notary act in the county that is notated on on the _____ portion of the Acknowledgement wording and date on the Acknowledgement is the date when the notary act was completed.

Answer 26

Verified

Venue

Question 27

For both the Acknowledgement and the Jurat, the person signing the document must __________ appear before the notary. The Acknowledgement may be signed beforehand since the notary will acknowledge his or her signature, but the signer of a Jurat must sign in front of the notary since he or she must be given an oath or affirmation at the time of signing.

Answer 27

Personally

Question 28

The notary is also required to verify the identity of the signer of an affidavit when the notary completes a _____.

Answer 28

Jurat

Question 29

The notary must administer an ____ or affirmation when completing a Jurat.

Answer 29

Oath

Question 30

Failure to administer the oath or affirmation when completing a Jurat is subject to a fine of up to ____ and the notary act can be challenged in court. The notary may also be subject to liability damages.

Answer 30

$750

Question 31

If a person who is requesting that their signature be notarized cannot communicate with you in your language, you must ______ to complete the notary act and instruct the person to find a notary who can speak their language.

Answer 31

Refuse

Question 32

Negligent failure to obtain proper indentification is an example of failure to complete the notary act and is subject to a civil penalty of up to ____ unless it is for a Credible Witness. In that case, the penalty is $10,000.

Answer 32

$750

Question 33

A foreign passport is acceptable for identification so long as it is valid and has been ______ by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and has been ______ by the individual.

Answer 33

Stamped

Signed

Question 34

An expired identification document may be used so long as the date of issue is less than _ years.

Answer 34

5

Question 35

All identification documents must bear a ______ number.

Answer 35

Serial

Question 36

The notary may use one credible witness as acceptable identification when the credible witness who personally _____ the document signer and the notary public, however, the notary must require the credible witness to present a proper form of __.

Answer 36

Knows

ID

Question 37

The notary must either record the information from the credible witness into the journal __ obtain a signature from the credible witness. It is advisable to both record the information and obtain a signature.

Answer 37

Or

Question 38

The credible witness may not have a beneficial or financial interest in the document and must swear an oath to the notary public that the individual who cannot present a form of identification is the person _____ in the document and that the credible witness __________ knows the document signer, and that the credible witness believes that the circumstances reasonably prohibit the signer from obtaining another form of identification.

Answer 38

Named

Personally

Question 39

When 2 credible witnesses are used, the notary public ____ record the identification information into the journal and obtain ______________ for both credible witnesses.

Answer 39

Must

Identification

Question 40

Subscribing witnesses are used when a document signer ______ personally appear before a notary and the subscribing witness has, in the signers presence, either seen the document signer place their signature onto the document or heard the document signer __________ that he or she placed the signature and requested the subscribing witness to take the document to a notary public.

Answer 40

Can not

Acknowledged

Question 41

The subscribing witness must be accompanied by a ________________ who personally knows the subscribing witness and the notary public.

Answer 41

Credible witness

Question 42

A Proof of Execution (Also called a Subscribing Witness Jurat) may not be used in conjunction with any ________ attorney, grant deed, mortgage, Deed of Trust, quitclaim deed, security agreement, or any document affecting real property or requiring a thumbprint in the notary journal.

Answer 42

Power of

Question 43

A notary should only keep ___ active journal at any time. The journal is the exclusive property of the notary. Failure to secure the journal can be cause of the Secretary of State to take administrative action against the notary’s commission.

Answer 43

One

Question 44

The notary must require a right thumbprint (left if the right is unavailable) if the document is a _________________ or any other document affecting real property except for a Deed of Reconveyance and a Trustees Deed resulting from a decree of foreclosure or a non judicial foreclosure pursuant to Civil Code section 2924. Failure to obtain a thumbprint in a journal when required is punishable by a civil penalty of up to _____.

Answer 44

Power of Attorney

$2500

Question 45

If a notary is to surrender his or her journal to a peace officer, the notary must notify the Secretary of State in writing within ___ days. Willful failure to provide the journal to a peace officer when requested is punishable by a civil penalty of up to _____.

Answer 45

10

$2500

Question 46

Failure to submit journal records with the county clerk or notify the Secretary of State within 30 calendar days after the completion of your commission (without recommissioning) can result in the charge of a _____________.

Answer 46

Misdemeanor

Question 47

The color of ink used in a notary seal is not legislated except that a seal must be ________________ reproducible when affixed to a document. For this reason, an embossed notary seal must contain ___.

Answer 47

Photographically

Ink

Question 48

A notary seal must have a ________ or milled edged border.

Answer 48

Serrated

Question 49

Using the seal on any document not containing the proper notarial wording is _______. The seal must not be used for any other purpose other than the rendering of a notarial service.

Answer 49

Illegal

Question 50

When the notary public commission is no longer valid, the notary public seal must be __________ to protect the notary from possible fraudulent use by another.

Answer 50

Destroyed

Question 51

A notary may never charge ____ than the prescibed fees for his or his services

Answer 51

More

Question 52

__ fees may be charged for notarizing ________________, military insurance, ________ or _______ documents.

Answer 52

No
Voting materials
Pension
Benefit

Question 53

Only a notary who is licensed and bonded as a immigration consultant may assist a client in completing ____________ documents

Answer 53

Immigration

Question 54

The charge for notarizing three signatures on a single Acknowledgement cannot exceed ___ dollars.

Answer 54

$30

Question 55

The notary may charge a maximumum of ___ for copying a journal record.

Answer 55

.30

Question 56

There are only 6 fine amounts (civil penalties) to remember:

Answer 56

$500
$750
$1000
$1500
$2500
$10,000

Question 57

$500

Answer 57

Willful failure to notify the Secretary of State of a name change
Willful failure to notify the Secretary of State of an address change

Question 58

$750

Answer 58

Negligent failure to fully or properly complete any notorial duty
Charging more than the prescribed fees of the notary act

Question 59

$1000

Answer 59

Acting as an attorney or giving legal advice including making the selection of a notary act to be performed; (i.e. Acknowledgement or Jurat).

Question 60

$2500

Answer 60

Failure to obtain a right thumbprint when required.

Failure to submit the journal to a peace officer when requested.

Question 61

$10,000

Answer 61

Failing to obtain proper identification for a credible witness when completing an Acknowledgement

Perjury or falsifying any notary wording.

Question 62

All other violations are subject to a $1500 fine.

Answer 62

False or misleading advertising.
Commission of any dishonest notary act, fraud, or deceit.
Executing any notary certificate (Acknowledgement, Jurat, Certified POA, Subscribing witness Jurat) for a document that the notary knows containing false statements.
Violation of simultaneous advertising as a notary and immigration consultant.
Violation of the prohibitions for filling out immigration forms.
Violation of requirements when advertising notary services in a foreign language.
Translating Notary Public into Spanish as Notario Publico or Notario.
Failure to notify the Secretary of State of a lost or stolen notary seal.
Completing a notary act without being a commissioned notary.
Unauthorized duplication, manufacture, or sale of the notary seal. (Public Prosecutor).