Section 1189.  


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

    State of California

     _____

    County of

     _____

    _____

    Onbefore 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1, 1993, and conforming to applicable provisions of former Sections 1189, 1190, 1190a, 1190.1, 1191, and 1192, as repealed by Chapter 335 of the Statutes of 1990, shall have the same force and effect as if those sections had not been repealed.

(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 399, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2008.)