Attended the Notary Masters‘ last meeting as an official Toastmasters group yesterday morning. Looking forward to continuing to meet with them as the group branches out.
Daniel Brewer of Brewer Notary founded the Notary Masters Toastmasters group along with Bill Soroka. With rising costs of membership and many years of speaking experience, the group is now setting out on its own path to continue refining the members’ public speaking skills and increase confidence.
Hearing about all the devastation a natural disaster brings makes me want to DO something. I realized that with my notary commission, this time I can. There are a group of notaries public from the Tuesday Notary Titans group that are preparing to perform free notarizations in the affect areas. Details are forthcoming.
Affected areas of the Pacific Palisades, Hurst, and Eaton Fires as of January 15, 2025
With so many homes lost, one of the most common items that will need notarization is an Affidavit of Loss that many insurance companies request. Please contact your insurance company and get exact details on what they require. When meeting with a notary public to have the documents notarized, all parts must already be completely filled out with no blank spaces. A notary public should not notarize an incomplete document.
Most of these affidavits will require the following: 1. Declarant’s Personal Information: Include the full name, address, and contact details of the individual declaring the loss (this individual is the “declarant”). 2. Description of the Lost Item: Clearly specify the item(s) that have been lost, including identifying details like serial numbers or unique features. Oftentimes, this would be for important documents including driver’s licenses, school records, or vital records. This is also where you would need to have instructions from your insurance company on what to include, especially if creating a list of items lost in a fire that need to be replaced. 3. Circumstances of the Loss: Provide a detailed account of how and when the item was lost, including relevant dates and locations. 4. Statement of Loss: Include a clear declaration affirming the loss of the item and that it has not been recovered. In some locations of the 2025 California fires, there are officials that are already assessing the damages to the buildings and there might be adjusters providing some of that information in your area. Please check with you local authorities to obtain those documents to include as appendices to the affidavit. 5. Signature: End with the declarant’s signature, affirming that the information is accurate and truthful.
In the state of California, if notarization would be required, the notary would fill out a jurat and attach it to the affidavit. DO NOT FILL OUT A JURAT ahead of time. Have the affidavit completed, but the jurat MUST be completed in the presence of the notary public. Best practice would be for the notary to note on the jurat the name of the document, number of pages, and any other unique, identifying features in order to deter fraudulent use of the jurat.
It’s no secret that this is a new endeavor for me, but that doesn’t mean that we’re starting from zero when it comes to organization and structure. In 2015, I was let go from my job and it floored me. I didn’t know what to do next with my life. I moped around for a bit, but then picked myself up and looked around at what I had been missing out on while I had had my nose to the grindstone at a place that didn’t appreciate my efforts or skills. I had forgotten that I had hobbies that I enjoyed and that was how I met people (and ultimately got that job that sucked 5 years of my life away).
That was almost 8 years ago now. That time was a bit of a struggle, but I did learn a lot about self-reliance and the idea of a “side hustle” was really starting to be something that many people were doing in their off-hours, but it wasn’t until much later that the media started reporting on it. There were two things I did in that time that changed the trajectory of my attitude. First, I started crocheting again. Adjacent to that, I decided to get myself the birthday gift of learning how to spin wool into yarn at my local community center. Second, I started doing more research on crochet and discovered Twitch and that there was a creative community that was live streaming their crafting. And I joined them.
Through trial and error, what I felt was a bit of common sense, some collaboration, and a great community, I got a tenuous grasp of what a soloprenuer business might look like and how you might want to set up accounts, market yourself, keep track of related events and holidays and leverage that to your advantage. I learned that people you interact with consistently can be really supportive, and on the flip side, there are random people who will come and say the meanest things. Just because they can. Not only did I go through all of this, Twitch was also. Policy, guidelines, and available tools were constantly changing and being added, trying to get control of the rampant bad actors. I learned you need to be fast to adapt and flexible when things don’t go smoothly.
I haven’t fully “quit” streaming on Twitch, but its been quite awhile since I turned that camera on. Learning all about notary work, responsibilities, and most importantly, connecting with fellow stampers, part of me feels pretty similar to when I found my crafting communities on Twitch.
Prior to creating my own website here in our own little notary corner of the digital world, I started writing on a site called Vocal.Media. I wrote a bit about Web3, NFTs, entered some writing contests, and then started to record my reaction and notes to the 2023 California Notary Public Handbook. So far, it is a series of 6 completed articles and I’m only about 1/3 of the way through it…not even counting the section of referenced codes.
Since Vocal.Media is a smaller, somewhat unknown platform, I searched a little, but haven’t found much in the way of importing those articles over here to WordPress. Until that gets sorted (it might never), the series can be found at the below links. Please feel free to comment here or on Vocal if you’d like to share in the experience
Understanding California’s 2023 Notary Public Handbook
As I look over the Menu of Services page we have, it occurred to me that not all of the items listed are clear as to WHAT it is that the service offers. In the next few weeks, I’ll be detailing out what each of those services entails. If you’re looking for a full end-to-end lifecycle for your documents, almost all of those services are steps in that larger process.
When I write “personal and business” in regards to the types of records, it doesn’t have to be a lot of items. Are you the kind of person who leaves things in semi-related piles? Or do you toss it all in a box and you know you’ll find the older items at the bottom? Sometimes we just need a little structure and external motivation to get started. Or perhaps things are so overwhelming that even the thought of starting makes your brain just stop working. This is where I can come in and assist with those piles. The first step is a phone consultation, or possibly even over email. Pictures or video calls are useful for me to assess the situation. This initial evaluation is a complimentary consultation taking into account your needs. From there we can determine the next steps.
Hopefully that little insight helps to demystify some of the other services, but even if not, stay tuned for a description of each.
Originally created to be a notary business, the owner wasn’t aware that it would take months for the commission to be finalized. In the meantime, we do offer other services!
Citrus Signings Data Services is located in Orange County, California. Specializing in Archives and Records coupled with over a decade in the entertainment industry; attention to detail for our data services is one of our super powers. Many of the services offered can apply to both personal and business records. Notary services forthcoming! (Oct 2023)
Citrus Signings 