County Clerk

For information on how to become a Notary Public, contact the Notary Division of the California Secretary of State at (916) 653-3595. You may also visit their website at http://www.sos.ca.gov/notary.

If you have already passed your test and received your Commission, you must file your Oath of Office and $15,000 Surety bond with the County Clerk in the county in which you maintain your principal place of business. This must be done within 30 calendar days of the commission’s starting date. The 30-day period cannot be extended for any reason. Your Notary Commission states the deadline for filing and the county in which you must file.

You may file your Oath and Bond in person or by mail with the assistance of another Kern County Notary.

To File in Person

To File by Mail

Take the following items to a Kern County Notary Public. Again, your Oath must be taken and filed in the County shown on your Commission. Names on the Commission, Bond and Oath must be exactly the same.

• Original Commission
• Original $15,000 Surety Bond
• Two unsigned Oath of Office forms, which we will complete for you
• Valid government issued photo identification, such as a Driver’s License
• Fee for the Notary who will notarize your documents

After a Notary has administered and notarized your Oath, immediately forward, by certified mail the following items to the Kern County Clerk’s office:

• A photocopy of your Commission
• Original signed $15,000 Surety Bond
• Two Oath of Office forms, completed with original signatures by you and the Notary that administered the Oath to you
• Filing fee of $27 (cash, credit card, money order, or check) payable to the Kern County Clerk
• A separate check or money order payable to the Kern County Recorder as follows:
• $13 for the first page
• $3 for any additional pages. Please note the Power of Attorney must be presented, but is not recorded.

If you need any further information regarding registering as a Notary Public in Kern County, please call our office Monday through Friday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm at (661) 868-3743 or you can come into our office located at 1115 Truxtun Ave, 1st Floor, Bakersfield, CA 93301 from 8:30 am – 3:00 pm .

Notary Signature Authentication

The County Clerk’s Office maintains records of notaries public which have been commissioned in Kern County. A notary authentication verifies that the notary’s bond was registered in Kern County, duly commissioned by the State of California and was active at the time of notarization. It does not validate the information within the document.

You may have a notary’s signature authenticated by coming into our office and bringing all documents pertaining to the document which needs to be authenticated.

• All seals and signatures must be original
• The seal must clearly show the name of the notary, commission number and date of expiration
• We will verify the notary public signature only

The cost is $3.25 per signature, per document. In addition, there is a search fee of $8.00 per notary name.

PLEASE NOTE: We do not have a notary public on staff and we do not notarize any documents. We cannot authenticate notary signatures from other counties.

For additional information regarding signature authentication, contact the Secretary of State, 300 South Spring Street, Suite #12512, Los Angeles, CA (213) 897-3062. You may also visit their website at: www.sos.ca.gov/notary/authentication/.