Capacity of Signers in California

This week I had a lot of back and forth with a loan company about notarizing someone as “Jane Doe, Trustee, Jane Doe Trust”.  This is allowed in places like Florida but not in California. They pushed back saying they’d done their own research! 

The truth is that we aren’t allowed to as per California Civil Code.

In California, we notarize individuals in that we are confirming their identity but not who or what they represent.  Capacity is legalese for a person’s title like if they were CEO of a company. The idea behind this is that it’s not our job to confirm someone is a trustee as that’s really the job of an attorney and not a notary public.

Now, in the document itself — there can be a signature line for the signer with their capacity written underneath their name.  Here, the signer is acknowledging that their capacity is associated as “Trustee, Jane Doe Trust”. 

As always, if you need a notarization in the Santa Barbara area, contact us at a sbmobilenotary.com