Section 1.7 - Notary Bond and Supply Overview
After receiving your commission packet, you are ready to purchase supplies. At a minimum, you will need:
A surety bond,
A seal stamp,
A notary journal, and
A thumbprint pad.
Additional supplies are recommended and are discussed later in this section.
Surety Bond
In order to provide some protection to the public, California law requires every notary public to file an official bond. It is important to note that the notary public bond is not an insurance policy for the notary public. It is designed only to provide a limited fund for paying claims against the notary public. The notary public remains personally liable to the full extent of the damage sustained and may be required to reimburse the bonding company for sums paid by the company because of misconduct or negligence of the notary public. (Government Code sections 8212 to 8214)
Appendix C contains a sample surety bond.
Optional Errors & Omissions Insurance
Because the notary is ultimately personally liable for damages resulting from his or her mistakes or omissions, the purchase of optional professional liability insurance is strongly recommended.
Also referred to as Errors and Omissions insurance or E&O for short, this type of coverage generally helps to protect the notary from financial loss by paying legal expenses and covered damages subject to policy limits and provisions. Here, it is important to note that not all policies are the same. When shopping for E&O, a notary should compare:
Coverage term,
Policy limit,
Treatment of legal expenses,
Premium, and
Surety company rating/reputation.
Appendix D contains a sample E&O policy.
Seal Stamp, Journal and Thumbprint Pad
You will also need a seal stamp, journal and thumbprint pad in your role as a California notary public. Your seal stamp will be used in nearly all notarizations you perform; you must use your journal to record the details of every transaction; and the thumbprint pad is required for transactions involving real property or power of attorney documents, wherein you must record each subscriber's right thumbprint. These items are described in more detail in Unit 3, Notary Supplies.