Credentials and Bonding

Our Credentials

How to Verify a California Notary

The Secretary of State maintains a public record of notary commissions. You can confirm the name, the county and the expiry date independently. We would rather you did.

Why This Page Exists

Because the business asks people for driver’s licences, Social Security numbers and death certificates, and because the industry it sits in contains operators worth being careful about. Everything on this page can be checked without asking us, which is the only kind of credential worth publishing.

The Notary Commission

Notarization is not incidental to this work. Every claim of $1,000 or more in cash, every securities claim and every safe deposit box claim requires a notarized affirmation. Holding the commission in-house means a claim does not stall waiting for an appointment somewhere else.

A California notary commission is issued by the Secretary of State for four years, after a state examination, a background check through the Department of Justice, and the filing of a $15,000 surety bond with the county clerk. The bond is not insurance for the notary — it protects the public, and a notary who causes loss is liable to repay the bond in full.

How to Verify a Notary, Including Ours

The Secretary of State maintains a public record of every commission. You can confirm the name, the county and the expiry date independently, and we would rather you did than take our word for it. We will give you the commission number on the phone, before you have hired us.

What a Notary Commission Is Not

A notary is not a lawyer and may not give legal advice. Our commission authorises us to verify identity and witness signatures. It does not qualify us to advise on entitlement, on probate, or on whether you should contest another heir’s claim — and where a question turns on those things, the right answer is a lawyer, which we will say plainly.

California requires any notary who advertises in a language other than English to state, in that language, that they are not an attorney. That notice appears in our footer, as Government Code section 8219.5 requires.

What the State Calls Us

The State Controller’s term for a business that searches for unclaimed property and files claims on someone else’s behalf is investigator. You will also see asset locator and heir finder used for the same thing. That is what we are, and we would rather use the State’s word for it than invent a softer one.

The Controller publishes the rules for investigators openly, which means you can audit us against them without our help:

• Investigators — the Controller’s page, including the fee rules and what consumers should expect
• Investigator Handbook (PDF) — the operating guidance we work to
• Standard Investigator Agreement (PDF) — the State’s own contract form
• Standard Investigator Agreement, Estates (PDF) — the probate version

What We Are Not

We are a private firm. We are not the State Controller’s office, not affiliated with it, not endorsed by it, and not acting under any government authority. Everything we do is work the State expects a claimant to do alone, on forms it does not explain.

The Fee, and the Law That Governs It

Code of Civil Procedure section 1582 caps recovery fees at ten per cent of the property returned, requires a written agreement, and requires that agreement to disclose the approximate value of the property. It also makes an agreement unenforceable if it is signed within twenty-four months of the property being paid to the Controller. We work inside all of it, and the agreement we ask you to sign says so.