Visalia, CA asked in Estate Planning for California

Q: can a notorized document be looked up at any notary in CA.?

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1 Lawyer Answer
David L. Crockett
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David L. Crockett
Answered
  • Estate Planning Lawyer
  • Newport Beach, CA
  • Licensed in California

A: Notarized documents are not recorded or registered with any government agency just because they are notarized. Typically, a living trust document is notarized but it is a private document and nobody has access to it except for the people involved in the trust. Thus there is no way to "look up" a document just because it has been notarized. On the other hand, a deed has to be notarized and then if it is recorded with the county recorder the deed becomes public record that anyone can see.

If you want to check to see if the notary is licensed and valid, the CA secretary of state has a website section where you can look up notary registrations. Also, if you have a notarized document and you want to see if the notarization is genuine, you can write to the notary and obtain a copy of the page in the notary's book from the notary. Any valid notarization must have the notary make a record in his/her notary journal and pages of that journal can be purchased from the notary. Refer to the CA state website on notaries for more information.

Sally Bergman agrees with this answer

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