Virtual estate planning is legal in California, and it is a good option for a lot of busy families, because it is easy and convenient. You can complete your entire plan from home, including the signing. You work directly with an experienced California attorney from the first call to the last, on a flat fee, from anywhere in the state. Here is how it works, the notary rule that makes it possible, and the practical questions people ask before they trust the process with something this important.
Zoom started to become a thing, believe it or not, before the pandemic. I remember in 2019, a large regional financial firm that wanted to start referring their clients to us gave us a demonstration of their Zoom setup in their conference room with big screen monitors. It was impressive and felt high tech. One year later, when we were all forced to work from home, Zoom was no longer new and cool; it was simply the way you did work.
Along the way, states began to authorize remote online notaries (RON).
Remote online notarization began as a state-level experiment before it became a national trend. Virginia passed the first RON law in 2011, authorizing notaries to verify a signer's identity and notarize documents over a live audio-video connection rather than in physical presence. Adoption stayed slow for several years, then accelerated sharply. Montana, Texas, Nevada, and others followed in the late 2010s, and the COVID pandemic in 2020 turned a niche convenience into a mainstream demand almost overnight. By the mid-2020s, the large majority of states had authorized some form of RON, and the National Notary Association and the Uniform Law Commission's Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts helped push toward common standards for identity proofing, credential analysis, and tamper-evident recordkeeping.
As of today, 49 states and Washington DC authorize their notaries to notarize remotely. Surprise, our Golden State is not in that group. But don't worry, our politicians passed a bill authorizing it and set the effective date for January 1, 2030. Officially, they say the Secretary of State needs time to build out the online RON platform. This is a head-scratcher because all the other states have already done it, and we invented computers and stuff.
Despite California's slow roll of RON, there is a wide-open legal path for Californians to use remote online notaries.
California Civil Code section 1189(b) recognizes a valid out-of-state RON performed by a notary authorized in another state.
Any certificate of acknowledgment taken in another place shall be sufficient in this state if it is taken in accordance with the laws of the place where the acknowledgment is made. California Civil Code section 1189(b)
This is buttressed by California Government Code section 8232.1, effective January 1, 2024, which states that:
a notarial act performed in another state the same legal effect under California law as one performed by a California notary, as long as the notary was authorized under that state's law.
This means that a California resident can use an out-of-state remote online notary to notarize California documents. In other words, until 2030 California will not allow California notaries to remotely notarize documents, but it will allow Nevada or Texas notaries to remotely notarize documents.
The practical takeaway: you can complete a valid estate plan by remote signing today, using an authorized out-of-state notary. And our law firm has been doing this since 2020.
Yes. In early 2020, the Los Angeles County Recorder was among the first major county recorders to approve the recording of remote online notary documents, leading the way for other counties. Now almost all, if not all, county recorders will record deeds with remote online notary signatures.
Some small rural counties still do not accept online recording; they only accept hand-delivered deeds, but that is a separate issue from accepting RON deeds. We handle the recording either way. If you want the mechanics of getting your home into the trust, see our post on how to fund your California living trust.
Again, the answer is yes. They have to. The law is clear. Sometimes an uninformed bank rep or financial institution agent will think they need an in-person notarization to confirm the validity of estate planning documents, but that is becoming more rare. And even then, when we show them the California statutes, they comply.
It's very simple. We help you schedule a RON session with our RON partner. He will send you a confirming email. The RON session is like a combination of Zoom and DocuSign. You confirm your ID: show your current CA driver's license or passport (just like with an in-person notary). And you answer a few background questions similar to those on a credit application: did you ever live at one of these addresses, etc.? The ID confirmation takes a few minutes. The notary then takes you through each document, and you electronically sign and date your documents. This takes about 15 minutes.
When the RON session is complete, you will receive your completed documents in PDF.
Ready to see how simple this can be? Call us at (800) 394-1988 or schedule a free intro call and we will walk you through it.
One of the documents included in your living trust estate plan is a pour-over will. Under California law, a will cannot be notarized. It must be signed before two in-person witnesses. Neither witness has to be a notary. And anyone except family, employees or people named in your estate plan can witness your will. You will need to sign your will before two witnesses after the notary session.
For many of our clients, the answer is yes, because it is easier than driving to a law firm, especially if you live in the Bay Area, Southern California or San Diego, where you try to avoid traffic. Your estate planning will be done beginning to end with the same experienced California attorney. You are never handed off to a paralegal or caseworker.
There is one situation where we do not recommend virtual. When a client's age or health raises a question about capacity, we want to confirm in person that the client understands the plan and is signing of their own free will. That protects the client and the plan. In those cases we meet at one of our offices.
If you would rather meet in person, you are also welcome at our El Dorado Hills or Roseville offices.
For more on the process, see how our virtual estate planning works.
Virtual estate planning is fully legal in California. Although our own notaries are not yet authorized to perform remote online notarization, California law expressly recognizes notarial acts performed by out-of-state notaries who are properly authorized in their own states. Civil Code section 1189(b) provides that any certificate of acknowledgment taken in another state is sufficient here if it is taken in accordance with the laws of that state. Government Code section 8232.1, effective January 1, 2024, further confirms that a notarial act performed in another state has the same legal effect under California law as if it were performed by a California notarial officer. As a result, you can validly execute your revocable trust, powers of attorney, and related documents through secure remote online notarization from the comfort of your home.
California has not yet authorized its own notaries to perform remote online notarization. The state enacted the legislation but set the effective date for January 1, 2030, while the Secretary of State builds the platform. Until then, California recognizes remote notarizations performed by authorized notaries in other states, which is the approach we use.
Yes, including the signing. The planning meetings happen on Zoom, the notarized documents are signed with a remote online notary on video, and your will is signed in front of two witnesses you arrange. PDFs come back to you when the session is done.
Almost always. Nearly every California county recorder now accepts deeds notarized through remote online notarization. A few rural counties only accept paper recording, which we handle by mail. Either way, your home gets deeded into your trust.
About three weeks for most families, from the first planning meeting to signing. More involved plans can run a little longer and still get done quickly, because estate planning is the only thing we do.
The same as an in-person estate plan. For most California families it is a flat fee of $3,000 for a single person or $4,000 for a married couple, covering the full plan including the deed that funds your trust. See our pricing page for what is included.
Virtual estate planning is legal in California; it is convenient, and for many families, it is the best way to finally get this done. You work directly with an experienced California attorney from start to finish on a flat fee, from anywhere in the state, and most plans are completed in about three weeks. The technology is not a gimmick. It is simply how careful legal work gets delivered now.
If you have been meaning to get your estate plan handled and the drive to a law office is what keeps stopping you, that excuse is gone.
Call us at (800) 394-1988 or click Get Started to schedule a free intro call.