Remote Online Notarization vs. Mobile Notary

California notaries cannot perform remote online notarization today. The Secretary of State says California law requires the signer to appear personally before the notary, and a video image is not a personal appearance; the remote part of the state's Online Notarization Act becomes operative only when the Secretary of State finishes its technology project, or on January 1, 2030, whichever comes first. A mobile notary is an ordinary notary who travels to you and notarizes in person. For a seller who lives in another state, the reliable path is a notary where you live, mobile or at an office, because California gives an acknowledgment taken under another state's law the same effect; a remote notarization under your own state's law works only if escrow and the title company accept it.

This page is part of the Out-of-State and Absentee Owners section. It covers a seller living in another US state. Signing from overseas, with apostilles and consulates, is a different process and is not covered here.

Can a California notary notarize over video?

No. The Secretary of State's notary FAQ answers the question directly: California law requires a person to appear personally before a notary for acknowledgments and jurats, and the party must be physically present. The 2026 Notary Public Handbook repeats it and adds that current law does not give California notaries the authority to notarize using audio-video communication.

Two things are allowed and get confused with remote notarization:

• Electronic notarization. A California notary may notarize an electronic document, but only when every requirement of a paper notarization is met, including the signer's personal appearance. The screen replaces the paper, not the meeting.
• Documents that need no notary. Not every page in a closing file is notarized. The deed, and any document escrow says must be acknowledged, are the ones that need a notary; escrow tells you how it wants the rest signed.

What SB 696 changed, and when

The Online Notarization Act (SB 696, Chapter 291, Statutes of 2023) was signed on September 30, 2023 and took effect on January 1, 2024, but the handbook explains that it is operative in stages:

• Government Code sections 8232 through 8232.4, on recognizing notarial acts, and Civil Code sections 1182 and 1183 became operative on January 1, 2024.
• Government Code section 8231.18, the security requirements for remote notarizations, became operative on January 1, 2025.
• The rest, including the appointment and duties of notaries doing remote online notarization, becomes operative when the Secretary of State completes the Notary Automation Project 2.0, or by January 1, 2030, whichever is earlier.

The Secretary of State's FAQ sums up the effect on the public "at this time" as no significant impact. Until that changes on the Secretary of State's own pages, assume a California notary needs you in the room.

What a mobile notary is

"Mobile notary" is not a separate license. It is a commissioned notary who comes to your home, office or care facility. For a California notary, the handbook sets out what that visit involves:

• Where. A California notary can work anywhere in California, not just the county where the commission was filed.
• Fees. Government Code section 8211 sets the maximum for an acknowledgment at $15 for each signature taken. The handbook tells notaries to identify any travel fee separately in the journal, so ask for the travel fee before the appointment.
• Thumbprint. For a deed, a deed of trust, any other document affecting real property, or a power of attorney, the notary must have you place your right thumbprint in the journal.
• Identification. Acceptable identification includes a driver's license or identification card issued by another state, which matters if you have moved away and changed your license.

If you live in another state, the mobile notary you book will be commissioned there and will follow that state's fee and identification rules, which this page does not describe.

Does California accept a notarization done in another state?

Yes, on the terms the law sets. Civil Code section 1189(b), reprinted in the handbook, says a certificate of acknowledgment taken in another place is sufficient in California if it is taken in accordance with the laws of the place where the acknowledgment is made. Government Code section 8232.1 gives a notarial act performed in another state the same legal effect as one by a California notarial officer, when it is performed by a notary public of that state, a judge or court clerk of that state, or another person that state authorizes.

In practice, escrow sends a signing package with the deed and the other closing documents, sometimes with a notary already arranged. You sign in front of that notary where you live, and the originals go back the way escrow instructs. Ask escrow whether it wants the California form of acknowledgment attached or will accept your state's form.

Remote online notarization under another state's law

Your own state may let its notaries notarize over video; that is a question for that state's rules, not California's. Whether such a notarization works for a California deed is not a question this page, or the Secretary of State's FAQ, answers for you. Escrow, the title insurer and the county recorder each have a say in what they accept. The law does give one route for recording such a document: Government Code section 27201.1 lets a disinterested custodian certify a paper copy of an electronic record, sworn before a notary, and requires recorders to accept that certified copy when it meets the statute's conditions, and the handbook notes this covers documents notarized via remote online notarization. That is a procedure for escrow and title to run, not for the seller to arrange alone. Ask before you book.

Side by side

Remote online notarizationMobile notaryNotary at an office or bank

By a California notary today

Not authorized

Yes, in California

Yes, in California

Signer present in the room

No, video

Yes

Yes

For a seller in another state

Only under that state's law, if escrow and title accept it

A notary of your state comes to you

You go to a notary of your state

Who confirms it will be accepted

Escrow and the title company, before booking

Escrow, for the certificate form

Escrow, for the certificate form

Fee

-

-

-

Questions to ask escrow before you book a notary

• Which documents in my package need to be notarized, and which can I e-sign?
• Will you and the title company accept a remote online notarization done under my state's law? If yes, which platforms?
• Do you arrange the notary, or do I?
• Do you need the California acknowledgment form attached, or will my state's form do?
• How should the originals come back, and by what date for the closing you have scheduled?
• If I am signing as a trustee, an administrator or under a power of attorney, what extra documents do you need?

Power of attorney deserves its own caution: whether one is valid for a California sale, and in what form, is a question for an attorney, and the notary will take a thumbprint for it.

Where this fits in a remote sale

Signing comes late, after access, the walkthrough and the two numbers, and right after escrow opens. The full order is in the remote sale workflow, start to finish, and the decision it belongs to is in selling a Southern California house from out of state. Form 593, the state withholding form, is signed before close as well, though it is certified under penalty of perjury rather than acknowledged; see California withholding (Form 593): questions for escrow.

The same signing rules apply if you list the house instead of selling it for cash. Signing is not a reason to pick a route; the net is. When the open-market number nets more and you have local help to prepare the house, listing is usually the better choice.

What this looks like in practice

These are the kinds of files that come in, described without names or figures.

• A seller in another state who has found a video notary online and needs to know, before booking, whether escrow and the title company will accept it.
• An heir who moved away years ago and whose only current identification is an out-of-state driver's license, which a notary may accept as identification.
• Two siblings in different states who each signed in front of their own local notary, with escrow coordinating both packages to one closing.

Next step

If you own a Southern California house from another state, start with the out-of-state owner page or call (909) 498-3977. Tell us where you live, and signing is planned with escrow from the start. There is no cost and no obligation to get the two numbers and the written report.

Sources

• California Secretary of State, Notary Public Frequently Asked Questions (SB 696, remote online notarization): sos.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Secretary of State, 2026 Notary Public Handbook (Online Notarization Act stages, electronic notarization, geographic jurisdiction, Government Code 8211 fees, journal thumbprint, identification, Civil Code 1189, tangible copy certification): notary.cdn.sos.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Government Code 8232.1 (notarial acts performed in another state), text read on California Public Law: california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Government Code 27201.1 (recording a certified paper copy of an electronic record), text read on California Public Law: california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026

Mr. Cali Offers is not a law firm, a notary service or an escrow company. Cash offers come from independent buyers and investors who buy for their own account and may resell for profit; a cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring. Any value shown is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice.