Notaries public: certificate corrections.

Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to appoint and commission notaries public in a number as the secretary deems necessary for the public convenience, and requires the secretary to administer the provisions governing notaries public. Existing law requires a notary public, when requested, to take the acknowledgment or proof of specified documents and to give a certificate of that proof or acknowledgment endorsed on or attached to the instrument. Existing law requires the notary public to sign the certificate in the notary public's own handwriting. Existing law prohibits a notary public from accepting any acknowledgment or proof of any instrument that is incomplete. Existing law also requires a notary public to keep one active sequential journal at a time of all official acts performed as a notary public, as specified. This bill would authorize a notary public to correct an error on a certificate under specified circumstances, including that the notary public who makes the correction is the same notary public who originally completed the certificate, the error is in a certificate attached to a grant deed, mortgage, deed of trust, quitclaim deed, security agreement, or other instrument affecting real property that is to be recorded with a county recorder, the error is of a kind that prevents the county recorder from recording the document, and a copy of the original record and notarial certificate are returned to the notary with a written request for correction from the county recorder, as specified. The bill would require a notary public that corrects an error on a certificate to indicate the correction on the original entry for the certificate in the journal and to initial and date the correction on an updated certificate or indicate that a new certificate was issued.