How is a person requesting a notarization identified ?
There are two ways a notary identifies a person. 1. Personal Knowledge (Civil Code Section § 1185 (b)) The notary has knowledge of the individual in relation to other people and the notary has knowledge of the person based upon a chain of circumstances, thus establishing the person’s identity with at least reasonable certainty. 2. Satisfactory Evidence (Civil Code Section § 1185 (c)) This means the absence of any information, evidence, or other circumstances which would lead a reasonable person to believe that the person is not the individual he/she claims to be, thus requiring identification.
