Congratulations. Your estate planning documents have been completed and are now ready for signing. Please read the following completely before scheduling your Signing Appointment.
BRING PROPER IDENTIFICATION: For the Signing Appointment, you must bring a valid current (i.e., unexpired) government-issued photo ID. I may be able to use an expired ID, but it has to have been issued within the previous five years (note this means that most expired California driver’s licenses will not work as valid ID.)
Valid identification includes the following:
1. An identification card or driver’s license issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles;
2. A United States passport;
3. Other California-approved identification card, consisting of any one of the following, provided that it also contains a photograph, description of the person, signature of the person, and an identifying number:
- A passport issued by a foreign government, provided that it has been stamped by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service or the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services;
- A driver’s license issued by another state or by a Canadian or Mexican public agency authorized to issue driver’s licenses;
- An identification card issued by another state;
- A United States military identification card with the required photograph, description of the person, signature of the person, and an identifying number. (Some military identification cards do not contain all the required information.);
- An inmate identification card issued by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the inmate is in custody; or
- An employee identification card issued by an agency or office of the State of California, or an agency or office of a city, county, or city and county in California.
It is an absolute legal requirement for notarization of legal documents that your photo ID have your name on it, and that your name be at least equal to the name that is being used in your legal documents.
EXAMPLE #1: You are signing as John H. Smith, and your DMV license indicates John Howard Smith. I can use this ID for notarization, because the initial “H” can indicate “Howard.”
EXAMPLE #2: You are signing as John Howard Smith and your DMV license indicates John H. Smith. I cannot use your license as sufficient ID for notarization, because the “H” on your driver’s license could stand for another name such as “Henry” or “Horace.”
REAL PROPERTY: Please bring a blank check for each county in California where you own real property that is being transferred into your living trust. Prepare the check(s) following the instructions you find on this document:
Download Instructions for “Not to Exceed” Check
I will give you instructions on how to fill in these checks so that the Recorder’s Office(s) can get their proper recording fees.
GUIDELINES FOR SCHEDULING YOUR SIGNING APPOINTMENT: Signing Appointments are generally available at multiple times from Mondays through Fridays. If you need to schedule your appointment for a Saturday or some other time during the week, please contact me at rpb@lawbob.com to see if special arrangements can be made.
You may schedule your Signing Appointment over the next several days. Your Signing Appointment will indicate a time of 90 minutes, with the intention that we will take about 60 minutes to sign everything. The additional time is for any other things we need to handle in the Appointment.
At approximately the 30-minute mark of the appointment, an additional signing witness may be joining us to act as a second witness to the signing of any Pour-Over Will(s) that need to be signed.
Unless I have indicated otherwise to you, please give me at least two business days advance notice of any Signing Appointment you wish to schedule. I may need this advance notice time to arrange for a signing witness for certain legal documents, and to do the final review and assembly of your estate planning portfolio binder with your legal documents.
(NOTE: If you access the calendar on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, do not book a signing appointment for the following Monday as that will not give me enough time to print out and assemble your estate plan.)
Please use this link to book your Signing Appointment:
