1.4 Commission Maintenance

Keeping the Commission in Good Standing

A commission is a four-year obligation, not a one-time achievement. Several events trigger mandatory notifications to the Secretary of State (SOS), and the required method — certified mail or another trackable physical delivery providing a receipt — is itself tested. The commission certificate is your proof of authority; keep the original secure, make copies for employers or clients, and never alter it. You are not required to carry it while notarizing.

What the Certificate Shows

Address Changes

If your home or business address changes, you must notify the SOS within 30 days using the change-of-address form, sent by certified mail or other trackable physical delivery providing a receipt. The method matters: a casual email or phone call does not satisfy the statute.

Your principal place of business is a recurring exam concept:

• It is where you primarily perform notarial services
• It may be your home if you work from home
• It must be a physical California street address — a P.O. box is not acceptable
• It determines the county where your oath and bond are filed

Worked scenario: A mobile notary travels to clients across two counties. The principal place of business is still the single address where the journal and seal are kept — not the rotating client locations. If that address moves to a different county, an amended oath and bond may need to be filed with the new county clerk.

Name Changes

The seal must always match the commission name exactly — no nicknames, no initials substituted for a full name. To change your name (marriage, divorce, court order):

Lost or Stolen Seal or Journal

This is a high-value correction point — older study materials sometimes cite a "5-business-day" rule, which is wrong. California requires you to notify the SOS immediately by certified mail (or other trackable delivery), describing what happened, and to attach a copy of any police report if applicable. There is no fixed day-count; the standard is "immediately."

Journal Seizure by a Peace Officer

If a peace officer lawfully seizes your journal, you must notify the SOS by certified mail within 10 days, using the Report of Journal Seizure form. Do not confuse this 10-day rule with the "immediately" standard for a lost or stolen journal — they are different triggers with different timing.

Notification Quick-Reference (Corrected)

Renewal and Expiration

The commission lasts four years. Begin renewing roughly six months early to avoid a lapse, because renewal repeats the full pipeline: a 3-hour refresher course (valid renewals only), passing the exam again at scaled 70, new Live Scan fingerprinting, a new $15,000 bond, and filing the new oath and bond with the county clerk within 30 days.

No grace period: the instant the commission expires, you have no authority. Any notarization performed after expiration is invalid and may be a criminal offense, even if you submitted renewal paperwork on time but the new commission has not yet issued and been filed.

Journal Disposition — Another Corrected Figure

Older guides claim a "7-year journal retention." That is incorrect for California. The journal is the notary's exclusive property and is generally kept as long as the notary holds it; it is delivered to the county clerk within 30 days only upon resignation, or by the personal representative upon death (and the clerk retains records). The seal, by contrast, must be destroyed once the commission ends.

Worked scenario: A notary resigns on July 1. Within 30 days, all notarial records and papers must be delivered to the clerk of the county where the current oath of office is on file, and the seal must be destroyed so it cannot be misused.

On the Exam

• Address change: 30 days, by certified/trackable mail
• Lost/stolen seal or journal: immediately, certified mail (NOT 5 days)
• Peace-officer journal seizure: 10 days, certified mail
• Seal must match commission name exactly; destroy the seal at the end
• Journal kept by the notary; delivered to county clerk within 30 days of resignation/death (NOT a 7-year rule)
• No grace period after expiration