• The signer of the document must personally appear before the Notary at the time of notarization. Telephone calls or e-mails from the document signer are not considered a personal appearance, even if the Notary and document signer personally know each other. 
  
• The Notary Public must ensure the document signer understands the nature of the document he or she is about to sign. Therefore, there must be direct communication between the document signer and the notary public. This may be in any language, but both document signer and notary public must communicate in the same language without aid of an interpreter. 
  
• Before notarizing any document, the Notary must identify the document signer. 
  
• A Notary must be impartial and not have any interest in the notarization of the document. Thus, a Notary may not notarize a document bearing the Notary's name or signature, or that of the Notary's spouse or relative. A Notary may also not notarize a document that will in any way benefit the Notary. 
  
• The Notary must record each notarization in an official journal of notarial acts, and require the document signer to sign this journal. Often, the Notary will ask the document signer to record his or her thumbprint in the journal as well. 
  
• The Notary must check the document to be notarized for completeness as he or she is not permitted to notarize incomplete documents. 
  
• The Notary is not permitted to certify a copy of a birth certificate or other vital record, or of a recordable document such as a deed. Only the public records custodian of these types of documents may issue these copies.

For more information regarding notary procedures, please click on the hyperlinks above, visit the National Notary Association or the California Secretary of State.