Somebody looks up what a notary costs in California, finds the number fifteen dollars, and calls a mobile notary. The notary quotes ninety-five. The call gets awkward fast, because one person thinks they just caught someone overcharging and the other person is quoting exactly what the job costs.
They are both right, and the confusion comes from the same place every time. There are two fees on that bill. California controls one of them and says nothing about the other.
Fees
$15 per signature is the maximum a notary may charge.
This is a ceiling, not a set price — a notary may charge less, or nothing at all. For an acknowledgment it is counted per signature taken, and for a jurat per person sworn, so one document signed by two people can carry two fees. Depositions have their own maximums, and travel is a separate charge.
§Cal. Gov. Code §8211Cross-checked · 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook
That is the part of the bill the state controls, and it is the number everyone finds first. It is also, for a mobile appointment, usually the smaller half.
The half nobody reads about
The other fee is travel. Someone drove to your kitchen table, or your office, or a hospital parking structure at eight in the evening. California does not cap that. It is a separate service, priced by the notary, and it is recorded separately from the notarial fee in their journal.
Fees · Travel
Travel fees are not capped by statute, and the Secretary of State's handbook says they should be identified separately in the journal.
The statutory maximums cover the notarial services themselves. Travel is not one of the services the fee statute prices, so it is a separate charge; the handbook says it should be identified separately from the notarial fee in the journal.
§Cal. Gov. Code §8211 (travel is not a listed service); CA Notary Public Handbook (2026), journal entriesCross-checked · 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook
This is not a loophole. It is the difference between a service you go to and a service that comes to you. A notary at a bank branch is not charging travel because you did the driving. When the notary does the driving, and the parking, and the waiting, that time is the product.
The capped fee pays for the stamp. The travel fee pays for the fact that you did not have to leave the house.
Now the part people actually get wrong
Here is the mistake that causes most of the sticker shock, and it has nothing to do with travel. The cap is per signature, not per document and not per appointment.
Say you and your spouse are signing three documents that each need notarizing. That is not one notarization. It is not three either. Each of you signs each document in front of the notary, so that is six notarized signatures, and the capped portion is six times fifteen.
6
Notarized signatures in the example above
$90.00
The capped portion at the maximum rate
Not capped
Whatever travel was agreed for the visit
People count documents because documents are what they are holding. The notary counts signatures because that is what they are certifying. Once you count the same way they do, quotes stop looking arbitrary.
Run your own numbers
Our California fee calculator splits any quote into the capped part and the travel part, and shows the statute next to the number.
Open the fee calculatorSo how do you tell if a quote is fair?
Compare the right number. A ninety-five dollar total is not evidence of anything by itself. Ask the notary to split the quote, then look only at the notarial portion against the cap. If someone is charging twenty dollars per signature, that is a real problem. If they are charging fifteen per signature plus fifty to drive out to you, that is a normal mobile appointment and the total is just the total.
Ask for the quote split into notarial fees and travel
Any notary should be able to do this without hesitating.
Count signatures, not documents
Every signer signing every document counts separately.
Agree the travel fee before the appointment, not at the table
This one is our own house rule rather than California law, and we think it should be everyone's.
Get the total in writing, even if it is just a text message
It takes ten seconds and removes the whole category of argument.
Fees · Free acts
No fee may be charged to a U.S. military veteran for notarizing an application or claim for a veteran's benefit, or to anyone for notarizing signatures on vote-by-mail ballot identification envelopes or other voting materials.
Both bind any notary. They are not the complete list: the handbook names narrower no-fee cases too, most of which turn on who the notary is rather than what the act is.
§Cal. Gov. Code §8211(d), (f); §6107Cross-checked · 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook
What we cannot tell you here
We cannot tell you which document you need, or whether the one you have does what you want it to do. That is a legal question and it belongs with a lawyer. What we can tell you is what notarizing it will cost, and now you can work that out yourself.
Is the cap per document or per signature?
Per signature. Two signers on three documents is six notarized signatures.
Can a notary charge me for waiting or for parking?
The statute caps the notarial act and treats travel separately. For anything else on a quote, ask for it to be itemized before the appointment and get the total in writing.
What if the notarial portion alone is over the cap?
Raise it with the notary first, since it is often a counting error rather than anything worse. If that does not resolve it, the Secretary of State is the office that takes complaints about California notaries.
Complaints
Complaints about a California notary's performance of their duties are submitted to the Secretary of State.
The Secretary of State disciplines notaries — it can't recover your money or undo a document. Fraud or forgery goes to local law enforcement or the district attorney instead.
§Cal. Gov. Code §8214.1; §8220Cross-checked · 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook; CA SOS complaint process
NotaryOT is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Notaries public are not attorneys and cannot advise on immigration or other legal matters. Each California legal claim in this post carries its citation and was cross-checked against the source named on its card: 2026 CA Notary Public Handbook; CA SOS complaint process.