California Notary Change of Address: Form, Deadline, Penalty

A California notary change of address is handled by mailing a signed Notary Public Address Change Form to the Secretary of State within 30 days of the move, using certified mail or another delivery method that produces a receipt. The requirement covers your residence, your principal place of business, and your mailing address, and it applies whether you moved across the street or across the state.

The 30-Day Deadline and the Penalty for Missing It

Government Code section 8213.5 gives you 30 days from the date your address actually changes to notify the Secretary of State in writing.¹ The clock starts the day you move, not the day you sign the lease or decide to relocate.

Willful failure to report inside that window is an infraction and carries a fine of up to $500.¹ The statute specifies “willful,” so an honest oversight corrected quickly is treated differently than deliberate noncompliance. Prepare the notification as soon as you have the new address.

Both the residence and the business entries have to be physical street addresses. A P.O. box or commercial mail receiving agency alone will not satisfy the requirement, though either can appear as a mailing address once a street address is also on file.¹

What Goes on the Form

The Secretary of State publishes an official Notary Public Address Change Form. A plain letter containing the same information also works, but the form prompts you for everything the office needs.² You will fill in:

Your commission name, exactly as it appears on your commission certificate
Your commission number and expiration date
Your old and new addresses, broken out by business, residence, and mailing — plus the business name if the change is for a business address

Your signature has to match the signature on the oath of office the Secretary of State already has on file. Digital signatures are not accepted. The form is signed under penalty of perjury, so verify every entry before you mail it.³

There is no online portal for notary address changes. The statute requires certified mail or another form of physical delivery that produces a receipt, which rules out email and web submission.¹

Where to Mail It

Send the completed form or letter to the Notary Public Section:

Secretary of State, Notary Public Section
P.O. Box 942877
Sacramento, CA 94277-0001⁴

Use certified mail or any delivery service that gives you a receipt. Keep that receipt with your notary records. It is your proof that you met the 30-day deadline if the question ever comes up.

An address update is purely administrative. It does not require a new oath of office, a new bond, or an amended commission. Your commission number stays the same, and you can keep notarizing while the Secretary of State processes the change.

If Your Move Crosses a County Line

A move to a different county still requires the same address change form. What’s different is an optional second step: transferring your official county filing. Many notaries assume this transfer is mandatory. It isn’t. The Secretary of State’s office states that “you may choose to file a new oath of office and bond in the county to which your business has moved, however, a county transfer is not required.”² Your commission already authorizes you to notarize anywhere in California.

The reason to transfer is your seal. Your notary seal must display the county where your most recent oath and bond are filed.⁵ Move from Sacramento to San Francisco without transferring and your seal still legally reads “Sacramento.” If you want the seal to reflect where you now work, you need to transfer.

How to Transfer Your County Filing

Request an oath of office form from the Secretary of State. The form will show your original county, but you take and file the oath in the new county and check the county transfer box at the bottom of the form. Along with the oath, file either a new $15,000 surety bond or a duplicate of your original bond with the new county clerk.²

Do not order a replacement seal on your own. Once the Secretary of State receives and processes the oath filed in the new county, the office will send you a certificate of authorization to have a new seal manufactured.² Stop using the old seal as soon as the new one is ready, since the old one now shows the wrong county.

If Your Name Is Changing Too

Do not use the standard address change form if you’ve also had a legal name change. The Secretary of State has a separate Notary Public Name Change Application that collects your new name along with updated business and residence addresses on one form.⁶ There is no fee.⁷

The follow-up timeline is strict. After the Secretary of State issues your amended commission, you have 30 days to file a new oath of office and a bond amendment with the county clerk. Miss that window and the name change is voided; your commission reverts to the old name. You then have another 30 days after filing the oath and bond to get a new seal showing the updated name.²

The name change application goes to a different mailing address than the address change form:

Notary Public Section
1500 11th Street, 2nd Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814⁶

Your Journal Stays With You

An address change does not affect your notary journal. You keep the same journal and continue recording entries in it. The journal only has to be surrendered to the county clerk if you resign, are removed from office, or let your commission expire without seeking reappointment within 30 days.²

1
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 8213.5
2
California Secretary of State. Notary Frequently Asked Questions
3
California Secretary of State. Notary Public Address Change Form
4
California Secretary of State. Contact Information – Notary Public
5
California Secretary of State. Procedures and Guidelines for the Issuance of Notary Public Seals
6
CA.gov – Secretary of State. Notary Public Name Change Application
7
California Secretary of State. Forms, Services, and Fees