2010 California Code
Civil Code
Article 3. Proof And Acknowledgment Of Instruments

1180.  The proof or acknowledgment of an instrument may be made at
any place within this state before a justice, retired justice, or
clerk of the Supreme Court, a justice, retired justice, or clerk of
any court of appeal or judge or retired judge of a superior court, or
the Secretary of the Senate or Chief Clerk of the Assembly.




1181.  The proof or acknowledgment of an instrument may be made
before a notary public at any place within this state, or within the
county or city and county in this state in which the officer
specified below was elected or appointed, before either:
   (a) A clerk of a superior court.
   (b) A county clerk.
   (c) A court commissioner.
   (d) A retired judge of a municipal or justice court.
   (e) A district attorney.
   (f) A clerk of a board of supervisors.
   (g) A city clerk.
   (h) A county counsel.
   (i) A city attorney.
   (j) Secretary of the Senate.
   (k) Chief Clerk of the Assembly.



1182.  The proof or acknowledgment of an instrument may be made
without this state, but within the United States, and within the
jurisdiction of the officer, before any of the following:
   (1) A justice, judge, or clerk of any court of record of the
United States.
   (2) A justice, judge, or clerk of any court of record of any
state.
   (3) A commissioner appointed by the Governor or Secretary of State
for that purpose.
   (4) A notary public.
   (5) Any other officer of the state where the acknowledgment is
made authorized by its laws to take such proof or acknowledgment.




1183.  The proof or acknowledgment of an instrument may be made
without the United States, before any of the following:
   (a) A minister, commissioner, or charge d'affaires of the United
States, resident and accredited in the country where the proof or
acknowledgment is made.
   (b) A consul, vice consul, or consular agent of the United States,
resident in the country where the proof or acknowledgment is made.
   (c) A judge of a court of record of the country where the proof or
acknowledgment is made.
   (d) Commissioners appointed by the Governor or Secretary of State
for that purpose.
   (e) A notary public.
   If the proof or acknowledgment is made before a notary public, the
signature of the notary public shall be proved or acknowledged (1)
before a judge of a court of record of the country where the proof or
acknowledgment is made, or (2) by any American diplomatic officer,
consul general, consul, vice consul, or consular agent, or (3) by an
apostille (certification) affixed to the instrument pursuant to the
terms of The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of
Legalization for Foreign Public Documents.



1183.5.  Any officer on active duty or performing inactive-duty
training in the armed forces having the general powers of a notary
public pursuant to Section 936 or 1044a of Title 10 of the United
States Code (Public Law 90-632 and 101-510) and any successor
statutes may perform all notarial acts for any person serving in the
armed forces of the United States, wherever he or she may be, or for
any spouse of a person serving in the armed forces, wherever he or
she may be, or for any person eligible for legal assistance under
laws and regulations of the United States, wherever he or she may be,
for any person serving with, employed by, or accompanying such armed
forces outside the United States and outside the Canal Zone, Puerto
Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands, and any person subject to the
Uniform Code of Military Justice outside of the United States.
   Any instrument acknowledged by any such officer or any oath or
affirmation made before such officer shall not be rendered invalid by
the failure to state therein the place of execution or
acknowledgment. No seal or authentication of the officer's
certificate of acknowledgment or of any jurat signed by him or her
shall be required but the officer taking the acknowledgment shall
endorse thereon or attach thereto a certificate substantially in a
form authorized by the laws of this state or in the following form:

   On this the ___ day of ____, 19_, before me _____, the undersigned
officer, personally appeared _____ known to me (or satisfactorily
proven) to be (a) serving in the armed forces of the United States,
(b) a spouse of a person serving in the armed forces of the United
States, or (c) a person serving with, employed by, or accompanying
the armed forces of the United States outside the United States and
outside the Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands,
and to be the person whose name is subscribed to the within
instrument and acknowledged that he or she executed the same. And the
undersigned does further certify that he or she is at the date of
this certificate a commissioned officer of the armed forces of the
United States having the general powers of a notary public under the
provisions of Section 936 or 1044a of Title 10 of the United States
Code (Public Law 90-632 and 101-510).

                _________________________
                _________________________
                Signature of officer,
                rank, branch of service
                and capacity in which
                signed.

   To any affidavit subscribed and sworn to before such officer there
shall be attached a jurat substantially in the following form:

  Subscribed and sworn to before me on
  this ____ day of _______, 19__.
                _________________________
                _________________________
                Signature of officer,
                rank, branch of service
                and capacity in which
                signed.

   The recitals contained in any such certificate or jurat shall be
prima facie evidence of the truth thereof, and any certificate of
acknowledgment, oath or affirmation purporting to have been made by
any commissioned officer of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps
or Coast Guard shall, notwithstanding the omission of any specific
recitals therein, constitute presumptive evidence of the existence of
the facts necessary to authorize such acknowledgment, oath or
affirmation to be taken by the certifying officer pursuant to this
section.


1184.  When any of the officers mentioned in Sections 1180, 1181,
1182, and 1183 are authorized by a law to appoint a deputy, the
acknowledgment or proof may be taken by such deputy, in the name of
his principal.


1185.  (a) The acknowledgment of an instrument shall not be taken
unless the officer taking it has satisfactory evidence that the
person making the acknowledgment is the individual who is described
in and who executed the instrument.
   (b) For purposes of this section "satisfactory evidence" means the
absence of information, evidence, or other circumstances that would
lead a reasonable person to believe that the person making the
acknowledgment is not the individual he or she claims to be and any
one of the following:
   (1) (A) The oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally
known to the officer, whose identity is proven to the officer upon
presentation of a document satisfying the requirements of paragraph
(3) or (4), that the person making the acknowledgment is personally
known to the witness and that each of the following are true:
   (i) The person making the acknowledgment is the person named in
the document.
   (ii) The person making the acknowledgment is personally known to
the witness.
   (iii) That it is the reasonable belief of the witness that the
circumstances of the person making the acknowledgment are such that
it would be very difficult or impossible for that person to obtain
another form of identification.
   (iv) The person making the acknowledgment does not possess any of
the identification documents named in paragraphs (3) and (4).
   (v) The witness does not have a financial interest in the document
being acknowledged and is not named in the document.
   (B) A notary public who violates this section by failing to obtain
the satisfactory evidence required by subparagraph (A) shall be
subject to a civil penalty not exceeding ten thousand dollars
($10,000). An action to impose this civil penalty may be brought by
the Secretary of State in an administrative proceeding or a public
prosecutor in superior court, and shall be enforced as a civil
judgment. A public prosecutor shall inform the secretary of any civil
penalty imposed under this subparagraph.
   (2) The oath or affirmation under penalty of perjury of two
credible witnesses, whose identities are proven to the officer upon
the presentation of a document satisfying the requirements of
paragraph (3) or (4), that each statement in paragraph (1) is true.
   (3) Reasonable reliance on the presentation to the officer of any
one of the following, if the document is current or has been issued
within five years:
   (A) An identification card or driver's license issued by the
Department of Motor Vehicles.
   (B) A passport issued by the Department of State of the United
States.
   (4) Reasonable reliance on the presentation of any one of the
following, provided that a document specified in subparagraphs (A) to
(F), inclusive, shall either be current or have been issued within
five years and shall contain a photograph and description of the
person named on it, shall be signed by the person, shall bear a
serial or other identifying number, and, in the event that the
document is a passport, shall have been stamped by the United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland
Security:
   (A) A passport issued by a foreign government.
   (B) A driver's license issued by a state other than California or
by a Canadian or Mexican public agency authorized to issue driver's
licenses.
   (C) An identification card issued by a state other than
California.
   (D) An identification card issued by any branch of the Armed
Forces of the United States.
   (E) An inmate identification card issued on or after January 1,
1988, by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the
inmate is in custody.
   (F) An employee identification card issued by an agency or office
of the State of California, or by an agency or office of a city,
county, or city and county in this state.
   (G) An inmate identification card issued prior to January 1, 1988,
by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the inmate
is in custody.
   (c) An officer who has taken an acknowledgment pursuant to this
section shall be presumed to have operated in accordance with the
provisions of law.
   (d) A party who files an action for damages based on the failure
of the officer to establish the proper identity of the person making
the acknowledgment shall have the burden of proof in establishing the
negligence or misconduct of the officer.
   (e) A person convicted of perjury under this section shall forfeit
any financial interest in the document.



1188.  An officer taking the acknowledgment of an instrument shall
endorse thereon or attach thereto a certificate substantially in the
form prescribed in Section 1189.



1189.  (a) (1) Any certificate of acknowledgment taken within this
state shall be in the following form:


  State of California  )
  County of___________ )
  On______________________________________before
  me,
  (here insert name and title of the officer),
  personally appeared_____________________________,
  who proved to me on the basis of
  satisfactory evidence to be the person(s) whose
  name(s)
  is/are
  subscribed to the within instrument and
  acknowledged to me
  that
  he/she/they executed the same in his/her/their
  authorized
  capacity(ies), and that by his/her/their
  signature(s) on
  the
  instrument the person(s), or the entity upon
  behalf of which
  the
  person(s) acted, executed the instrument.
  I certify under PENALTY OF PERJURY under the
  laws of the State of California that the
  foregoing paragraph is true and correct.
  WITNESS my hand and official seal.
  Signature________________________________  (Seal)

   (2) A notary public who willfully states as true any material fact
that he or she knows to be false shall be subject to a civil penalty
not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000). An action to impose a
civil penalty under this subdivision may be brought by the Secretary
of State in an administrative proceeding or any public prosecutor in
superior court, and shall be enforced as a civil judgment. A public
prosecutor shall inform the secretary of any civil penalty imposed
under this section.
   (b) Any certificate of acknowledgment taken in another place shall
be sufficient in this state if it is taken in accordance with the
laws of the place where the acknowledgment is made.
   (c) On documents to be filed in another state or jurisdiction of
the United States, a California notary public may complete any
acknowledgment form as may be required in that other state or
jurisdiction on a document, provided the form does not require the
notary to determine or certify that the signer holds a particular
representative capacity or to make other determinations and
certifications not allowed by California law.
   (d) An acknowledgment provided prior to January 1, 1993, and
conforming to applicable provisions of former Sections 1189, 1190,
1190a, 1190.1, 1191, and 1192, as repealed by Chapter 335 of the
Statutes of 1990, shall have the same force and effect as if those
sections had not been repealed.


1190.  The certificate of acknowledgment of an instrument executed
on behalf of an incorporated or unincorporated entity by a duly
authorized person in the form specified in Section 1189 shall be
prima facie evidence that the instrument is the duly authorized act
of the entity named in the instrument and shall be conclusive
evidence thereof in favor of any good faith purchaser, lessee, or
encumbrancer. "Duly authorized person," with respect to a domestic or
foreign corporation, includes the president, vice president,
secretary, and assistant secretary of the corporation.



1193.  Officers taking and certifying acknowledgments or proof of
instruments for record, must authenticate their certificates by
affixing thereto their signatures, followed by the names of their
offices; also, their seals of office, if by the laws of the State or
country where the acknowledgment or proof is taken, or by authority
of which they are acting, they are required to have official seals.




1195.  (a) Proof of the execution of an instrument, when not
acknowledged, may be made any of the following:
   1. By the party executing it, or either of them.
   2. By a subscribing witness.
   3. By other witnesses, in cases mentioned in Section 1198.
   (b) Proof of the execution of a grant deed, mortgage, deed of
trust, quitclaim deed, or security agreement is not permitted
pursuant to Section 27287 of the Government Code, though proof of the
execution of a trustee's deed or deed of reconveyance is permitted.
   (c) Any certificate for proof of execution taken within this state
may be in the following form, although the use of other,
substantially similar forms is not precluded:

  State of California   )
                           ss.
  County of __________  )

    On ____ (date), before me, the undersigned, a notary public
for the state, personally appeared ____ (subscribing witness's
name), personally known to me (or proved to me on the oath of
____ Ýcredible witness's name], who is personally known to me)
to be the person whose name is subscribed to the within instrument,
as a witness thereto, who, being by me duly sworn, deposed and said
that he/she was present and saw ____ (nameÝs] of principalÝs]),
the same person(s) described in and whose name(s) is/are
subscribed to the within and annexed instrument in his/her/their
authorized capacity(ies) as (a) party(ies) thereto, execute the same,
and that said affiant subscribed his/her name to the within
instrument as a witness at the request of ____ (nameÝs] of
principalÝs]).

  WITNESS my hand and official seal.
  Signature________________________________    (Seal)



1196.  A witness shall be proved to be a subscribing witness by the
oath of a credible witness who provides the officer with any document
satisfying the requirements of paragraph (3) or (4) of subdivision
(b) of Section 1185.


1197.  The subscribing witness must prove that the person whose name
is subscribed to the instrument as a party is the person described
in it, and that such person executed it, and that the witness
subcribed his name thereto as a witness.


1198.  The execution of an instrument may be established by proof of
the handwriting of the party and of a subscribing witness, if there
is one, in the following cases:
   1. When the parties and all the subscribing witnesses are dead;
or,
   2. When the parties and all the subscribing witnesses are
non-residents of the State; or,
   3. When the place of their residence is unknown to the party
desiring the proof, and cannot be ascertained by the exercise of due
diligence; or,
   4. When the subscribing witness conceals himself, or cannot be
found by the officer by the exercise of due diligence in attempting
to serve the subpoena or attachment; or,
   5. In case of the continued failure or refusal of the witness to
testify, for the space of one hour, after his appearance.



Ý1199.]  Section Eleven Hundred and Ninety-nine. The evidence taken
under the preceding section must satisfactorily prove to the officer
the following facts:
   One--The existence of one or more of the conditions mentioned
therein; and,
   Two--That the witness testifying knew the person whose name
purports to be subscribed to the instrument as a party, and is well
acquainted with his signature, and that it is genuine; and,
   Three--That the witness testifying personally knew the person who
subscribed the instrument as a witness, and is well acquainted with
his signature, and that it is genuine; and,
   Four--The place of residence of the witness.



1200.  An officer taking proof of the execution of any instrument
must, in his certificate indorsed thereon or attached thereto, set
forth all the matters required by law to be done or known by him, or
proved before him on the proceeding, together with the names of all
the witnesses examined before him, their places of residence
respectively, and the substance of their testimony.



1201.  Officers authorized to take the proof of instruments are
authorized in such proceedings:
   1. To administer oaths or affirmations, as prescribed in Section
2093, CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE;
   2. To employ and swear interpreters;
   3. To issue subpoena, as prescribed in Section 1986, CODE OF CIVIL
PROCEDURE;
   4. To punish for contempt, as prescribed in Sections 1991, 1993,
1994, CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE.
   The civil damages and forfeiture to the party aggrieved are
prescribed in Section 1992, CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE.



1202.  When the acknowledgment or proof of the execution of an
instrument is properly made, but defectively certified, any party
interested may have an action in the superior court to obtain a
judgment correcting the certificate.


1203.  Any person interested under an instrument entitled to be
proved for record, may institute an action in the superior court
against the proper parties to obtain a judgment proving such
instrument.



1204.  A certified copy of the judgment in a proceeding instituted
under either of the two preceding sections, showing the proof of the
instrument, and attached thereto, entitles such instrument to record,
with like effect as if acknowledged.



1205.  The legality of the execution, acknowledgment, proof, form,
or record of any conveyance or other instrument made before this Code
goes into effect, executed, acknowledged, proved, or recorded is not
affected by anything contained in this Chapter, but depends for its
validity and legality upon the laws in force when the act was
performed.



1206.  All conveyances of real property made before this Code goes
into effect, and acknowledged or proved according to the laws in
force at the time of such making and acknowledgment or proof, have
the same force as evidence, and may be recorded in the same manner
and with the like effect, as conveyances executed and acknowledged in
pursuance of this Chapter.



1207.  Any instrument affecting the title to real property, one year
after the same has been copied into the proper book of record, kept
in the office of any county recorder, imparts notice of its contents
to subsequent purchasers and encumbrancers, notwithstanding any
defect, omission, or informality in the execution of the instrument,
or in the certificate of acknowledgment thereof, or the absence of
any such certificate; but nothing herein affects the rights of
purchasers or encumbrancers previous to the taking effect of this
act. Duly certified copies of the record of any such instrument may
be read in evidence with like effect as copies of an instrument duly
acknowledged and recorded; provided, when such copying in the proper
book of record occurred within five years prior to the trial of the
action, it is first shown that the original instrument was genuine.