Cal. Codes » Civil Code / DIVISION 2. PROPERTY / PART 4. ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY / TITLE 4. TRANSFER / CHAPTER 4. Recording Transfers / ARTICLE 3. Proof and Acknowledgment of Instruments
California Codes

Cal. Civil Code § 1185 (2026)

Proof and Acknowledgment of Instruments

✓ leginfo export of Sept. 26, 2026 (applied Oct. 1, 2026)
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section CA-LEGleginfo.legislature.ca.gov JustiaCode on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(a)The acknowledgment of an instrument shall not be taken unless the officer taking it has satisfactory evidence that the person making the acknowledgment is the individual who is described in and who executed the instrument.

(b)For purposes of this section, “satisfactory evidence” means the absence of information, evidence, or other circumstances that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the person making the acknowledgment is not the individual he or she claims to be and any one of the following:

(1)(A)The oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally known to the officer, whose identity is proven to the officer upon presentation of a document satisfying the requirements of paragraph (3) or (4), that the person making the acknowledgment is personally known to the witness and that each of the following are true:

(i)The person making the acknowledgment is the person named in the document.

(ii)The person making the acknowledgment is personally known to the witness.

(iii)That it is the reasonable belief of the witness that the circumstances of the person making the acknowledgment are such that it would be very difficult or impossible for that person to obtain another form of identification.

(iv)The person making the acknowledgment does not possess any of the identification documents named in paragraphs (3) and (4).

(v)The witness does not have a financial interest in the document being acknowledged and is not named in the document.

(B)A notary public who violates this section by failing to obtain the satisfactory evidence required by subparagraph (A) shall be subject to a civil penalty not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000). An action to impose this civil penalty may be brought by the Secretary of State in an administrative proceeding or a public prosecutor in superior court, and shall be enforced as a civil judgment. A public prosecutor shall inform the secretary of any civil penalty imposed under this subparagraph.

(2)The oath or affirmation under penalty of perjury of two credible witnesses, whose identities are proven to the officer upon the presentation of a document satisfying the requirements of paragraph (3) or (4), that each statement in paragraph (1) is true.

(3)Reasonable reliance on the presentation to the officer of any one of the following, if the document or other form of identification is current or has been issued within five years:

(A)An identification card or driver’s license issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

(B)A passport issued by the Department of State of the United States.

(C)An inmate identification card issued by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the inmate is in custody in prison.

(D)Any form of inmate identification issued by a sheriff’s department, if the inmate is in custody in a local detention facility.

(4)Reasonable reliance on the presentation of any one of the following, provided that a document specified in subparagraphs (A) to (F), inclusive, shall either be current or have been issued within five years and shall contain a photograph and description of the person named on it, shall be signed by the person, and shall bear a serial or other identifying number:

(A)A valid consular identification document issued by a consulate from the applicant’s country of citizenship, or a valid passport from the applicant’s country of citizenship.

(B)A driver’s license issued by a state other than California or by a Canadian or Mexican public agency authorized to issue driver’s licenses.

(C)An identification card issued by a state other than California.

(D)An identification card issued by any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States.

(E)An employee identification card issued by an agency or office of the State of California, or by an agency or office of a city, county, or city and county in this state.

(F)An identification card issued by a federally recognized tribal government.

(c)An officer who has taken an acknowledgment pursuant to this section shall be presumed to have operated in accordance with the provisions of law.

(d)A party who files an action for damages based on the failure of the officer to establish the proper identity of the person making the acknowledgment shall have the burden of proof in establishing the negligence or misconduct of the officer.

(e)A person convicted of perjury under this section shall forfeit any financial interest in the document.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 16 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1953–2022 · leading case: McComber v. Wells, 72 Cal. App. 4th 512 (Cal. Ct. App. 1999).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
McComber v. Wells, 72 Cal. App. 4th 512 (Cal. Ct. App. 1999). · cites it 2× “(Civ. Code, § 1185, subd. (c).) Moreover, Civil Code section 1185, subdivision (a) mandates, “The acknowledgment of an instrument shall not be taken unless the officer taking it personally knows, or has satisfactory evidence that the person making the acknowledgment is, the…”
Werner v. Werner, 526 P.2d 370 (Wash. 1974). · cites it 4× “Cal. Civ. Code § 1185 states: The acknowledgment of an instrument must not be taken, unless the officer taking it knows or has satisfactory evidence, on the oath or affirmation of a credible witness, that the person making such acknowledgment is the individual who is described…”
People v. Monroe, 12 Cal. App. 4th 1174 (Cal. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 2× “(Civ. Code, § 1185; see Stats. 1982, ch. 197, § 1, p.”
Vancura v. Katris, 907 N.E.2d 814 (Ill. App. Ct. 1st Dist. 2008). “See also Cal. Civ. Code §1185 (Deering 2005) (indicating satisfactory evidence of identity may be found in a local driver’s license or United States passport, or in some instances in a foreign government’s passport, foreign driver’s license or other state identification card,…”
Transamerica Title Ins. v. Green, 11 Cal. App. 3d 693 (Cal. Ct. App. 1970). · cites it 2× “) “A notary has no right, in disregard of this plain provision of the statute [Civ. Code, § 1185], to certify that he knows a person whom he does not know, on the mere introduction of some third party; and if he does so, and loss results therefrom, he renders himself and his…”
McDonald v. Plumb, 12 Cal. App. 3d 374 (Cal. Ct. App. 1970). · cites it 2× “2 ) It is undisputed that the McDonalds sustained damage in the sum of $21,063.51. Proximate cause is defined in California Jury Instructions—Civil (5th ed.”
Bernd v. Eu, 100 Cal. App. 3d 511 (Cal. Ct. App. 1979). “Although no case is directly on point with regard to the administrative ground for disciplinary action, we deem the language quoted above from Fogarty v.”
Vancura v. Katris, 907 N.E.2d 814 (Ill. App. Ct. 1st Dist. 2009). “passports and military identification papers, issued by authorities known to exercise care in identification of persons requesting such documentation.”
Wilson v. Manduca, 233 Cal. App. 2d 184 (Cal. Ct. App. 1965). “Manduca, the plaintiff, but he positively identified her in the courtroom as the person who did sign and acknowledge the questioned document on February 10, 1958.”
Allstate Sav. & Loan Assn. v. Lotito, 116 Cal. App. 3d 998 (Cal. Ct. App. 1981). · cites it 2× “3 The Notary’s Negligence Civil Code section 1185 has governed the duties of a notary public in taking the acknowledgment of an instrument since 1872.”
In re Kossack, 113 F. Supp. 884 (S.D. Cal. 1953). “Code § 1263; (3) That the verification signed and sworn to by bankrupt and his wife at the foot or end of the document contains a solemn oath by “the declarants in the foregoing declaration of homestead” as to the truth of “the matters therein stated”; (4) That the notarial…”
Fid. Nat'l Title Ins. Co. v. Cothran, No. B258692 (Cal. Ct. App. Mar. 23, 2016). “to sign and certify two blank All-Purpose Acknowledgements, without the physical presence or actual consent of the signing party [Sanchez] in violation of California Civil Code sections 1185(a) and 1189.”
Show all 16 citing cases →
Cal. Civil Code § 1185(a): 2 cases
Fid. Nat'l Title Ins. Co. v. Cothran, No. B258692 (Cal. Ct. App. Mar. 23, 2016). “to sign and certify two blank All-Purpose Acknowledgements, without the physical presence or actual consent of the signing party [Sanchez] in violation of California Civil Code sections 1185(a) and 1189.”
Sanchez v. S.B.S. Trust Deed Network, No. B252967 (Cal. Ct. App. May 14, 2015).
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.