This question clearly takes the top spot.

One of the key reasons it comes up so often is that us Notaries are confronted with a growing array of identity cards. Consider that every state and U.S. territory issues driver’s licenses and ID cards. On top of that, there are inmate IDs, tribal IDs and identity cards issued by federal government agencies. Then there are the identity cards and passports issued by every country in the world. Given the mobile nature of our business and the fact that there are 43 million foreign-born residents living in the U.S., there’s a good chance will encounter an unfamiliar ID.

The valid Photo Identification Cards that we accept are:

1. California driver’s license or nondriver’s ID. (valid & unexpired)

2. U.S. passport or passport card. (valid & unexpired)

3. An inmate identification card issued by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

4. Driver’s license or official nondriver’s ID issued by a U.S. state.

5. Canadian or Mexican driver’s license issued by an appropriate public agency.

6. U.S. military ID.

7. Valid foreign passport.

8. Employee ID issued by an agency or office of the state of California.

9. Employee ID issued by a California city, county, or city and county.

10. ID card issued by a federally-recognized tribal government.

11. Valid consular identification document issued by a consulate.

12. Two Credible Witnesses with a valid ID that can confirm they personally know you.

Yes. We are.

If the times available on our appointment calendar system do not work for you and you require urgent notary service, please call or text (323) 999-1016.

If we are available, we charge a $50.00 urgency fee on top of any other charges you may incur.

Yes, we are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

• For all appointments made on Saturday or Sunday, we charge a $25.00 weekend convenience fee.

• Additionally, if your appointment is made after 5pm or before 10am on any day, we also charge a $25.00 after-hours convenience fee.

It's simple...

1. It is FREE if you first set an appointment and meet us AT our office during normal weekday business hours. You must pay for street parking or a paid parking lot.

2. It is $5.00 if you first set an appointment and meet us NEAR our office less than a ½ mile away during normal weekday business hours. Free Parking for many places.

3. It is $40.00 if you first set an appointment and would like us to COME TO YOU at your address that you entered when making your appointment. Your address must be within a 10-mile radius of our office. If you later need to change locations, be sure to message us and include your order number.

4. It is $40.00 +$5.00/per mile if you first set an appointment and would like us to COME TO YOU when your meeting address is beyond a 10 mile radius from our office, up to 50 miles maximum. If you later need to change locations, be sure to message us and include your order number.

WAIT TIMES

All appointments get a 5 minute grace period. We charge $1.00 / per minute for every minute you are late past the scheduled appointment time.

Many clients come to us and simply say, “I need this notarized.”

They have no idea that there are different notarial acts. Before we ask you "what type of notarization you want?", we will quickly peruse the document to see if it includes notarial wording, which is generally found after the signature line.

If it does, we will look it over to see what it is asking us to do.

For an acknowledgment, it will generally have some variation of “acknowledged before me.”

Jurat wording typically will include a version of “subscribed and sworn” language.

If we recognize the wording and it meets the requirements for the state of California, we will proceed. If the wording is not clear, or the document doesn’t contain a notarial certificate, we will have to ask you what type of notarization document is needed.

Customers will often then ask us what to do. We will describe to you what an acknowledgment is and what a jurat is, but we will never recommend or suggest which one should be used. That would be an unauthorized practice of law.

We notarize signatures on documents, not pages on documents.

A particular page or pages might have notary certificates within a document. Or, a certificate could be stapled to the back of a document. Ideally that certificate should identify the corresponding document.

We charge PER SIGNATURE. So if your document requires us to notarize your signature on multiple pages, you will be billed for each of those notarization acts.

1. If a document has a white-out on it, then we will refuse to notarize it because we do not understand the complete contents.

2. If the signer is not present or the document is incomplete.

3. If the signer cannot understand the document’s contents, then we cannot notarize the document.

4. If the signer cannot provide an adequate identification clause.

5. If the signer is a minor, or we believe a person has been coerced into signing.

6. Wills and birth/death certificates are not notarized.

1. Will everyone who needs their signature notarized be present?

2. Do you have in your possession all necessary documents ready for the notarization?

3. Do all signers have acceptable ID? What type does each person have?

4. Do you agree to all our payment terms for extras? (including travel fees and /or any additional fees)