Rachel @ Citrus Signings Services

Mobile Notary Services for Healthcare Directives

“i thought I had more time,” is what my mother said to my sister as she was laying on the hospital bed in St. Paul. I was en route from California. My sister, a nurse, had been asking my mom the hard questions. “What about a feeding tube? Or breathing tube?” she asked “No, that’s not necessary,” was my mother’s reply. “What if it means you get to hold on a little longer until Rachel gets here?” My sister pressed. “Oh, well, in that case…”

This was 14 months after I had been in the hospital for observation and then an early C-section for my first (and only) child at 42 years old. I had read through the provided advanced healthcare directive (AHD) packet. And man, those questions are hard. Soul-searching I wasn’t ready to do. Serious situations that I likely wouldn’t, but very well could possibly, face. I don’t know if my mom ever read an AHD packet. She must have been provided with one at some point, as she had been battling cancer on and off since 2017. She also worked with high-risk individuals. Maybe she just needed to ask if they had one and keep it on file if so.

To be legally binding, the Advanced Healthcare Directive must either be witnessed by 2 adults (one must not be related to you or benefitting from any of your estate) or notarized. When I went to hand my un-notarized AHD to the nurse, they declined to put it on file as it wasn’t complete. Had I been in a skilled nursing facility, one of the witnesses would have had to have been the ombudsman.

As a mobile notary, I can travel to where you need me, coordinate with the necessary individuals, and provide your family with the peace of mind of a plan for when things go sideways, or faster than exepcted.

Rachel @ Citrus Signings Services

Affidavit of Loss and Organizing a FREE NOTARIZATION event for those affected by the California wildfires

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.

🙋🏻‍♀️ Rachel L. Reges
📞 714-497-0154
📧 citrusSigningsNotary@gmail.com
🌐 CitrusSignings.com

Rachel @ Citrus Signings Services

Notary Education Journal Articles

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

Researching Government Approved Notary Public Education Vendors

Personal evaluation and experience of the Approved Vendors List

Rachel @ Citrus Signings Services

Our Menu of Services

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.

Happy Signing!