diff --git a/docs/changelog.md b/docs/changelog.md
index b32bcb6..697aaac 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/changelog.md
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - `STYLE_STRING_FORMAT_REGEX`, which is no longer used to find `{` style fields. [#75](https://github.com/nhairs/python-json-logger/pull/75)
 
 ### Fixed
+
+- Preserve an exception's own notes when encoding exception instances, including exception group summaries. Related to [#67](https://github.com/nhairs/python-json-logger/issues/67).
 - `%` style formats no longer treat the escaped literal `%%` as the start of a field, so `"%%(notafield)s"` is correctly read as literal text. [#75](https://github.com/nhairs/python-json-logger/pull/75)
 - `{` style formats now use `string.Formatter` (as `logging.StrFormatStyle.validate` does) to find fields, so escaped literal braces (`{{`/`}}`) are skipped and a conversion (`{message!r}`) or format spec (`{levelname:>8}`) is no longer treated as part of the field name. [#75](https://github.com/nhairs/python-json-logger/pull/75)
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index fe257b4..8c2af40 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "python-json-logger"
-version = "4.2.1.dev1"
+version = "4.2.1.dev2"
 description = "JSON Log Formatter for the Python Logging Package"
 authors = [
     {name = "Zakaria Zajac", email = "zak@madzak.com"},
diff --git a/src/pythonjsonlogger/defaults.py b/src/pythonjsonlogger/defaults.py
index e70abda..0bf398b 100644
--- a/src/pythonjsonlogger/defaults.py
+++ b/src/pythonjsonlogger/defaults.py
@@ -152,10 +152,19 @@ def use_exception_default(obj: Any) -> TypeGuard[BaseException]:
 def exception_default(obj: BaseException) -> str:
     """Default function for exception instances
 
+    Includes the exception's own notes, if present. Exception groups retain
+    their summary without recursively formatting their children.
+
     Args:
         obj: object to handle
+
+    *Changed in 4.2.1*: Include exception notes.
     """
-    return f"{obj.__class__.__name__}: {obj}"
+    result = f"{obj.__class__.__name__}: {obj}"
+    notes = getattr(obj, "__notes__", None)
+    if isinstance(notes, list):
+        return "\n".join([result, *(note for note in notes if isinstance(note, str))])
+    return result
 
 
 def use_traceback_default(obj: Any) -> TypeGuard[TracebackType]:
diff --git a/tests/test_formatters.py b/tests/test_formatters.py
index 3f12fcc..44d1748 100644
--- a/tests/test_formatters.py
+++ b/tests/test_formatters.py
@@ -699,6 +699,100 @@ def test_common_types_encoded(
     return
 
 
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    sys.version_info < (3, 11), reason="Exception notes require Python 3.11 or higher"
+)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("class_", ALL_FORMATTERS)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ["notes", "expected"],
+    [
+        ([], "ValueError: my error"),
+        (["context"], "ValueError: my error\ncontext"),
+        ([""], "ValueError: my error\n"),
+        (["first", "second"], "ValueError: my error\nfirst\nsecond"),
+        (["line 1\nline 2", "Привет"], "ValueError: my error\nline 1\nline 2\nПривет"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_dict_exception_notes(
+    env: LoggingEnvironment,
+    class_: type[BaseJsonFormatter],
+    notes: list[str],
+    expected: str,
+) -> None:
+    env.set_formatter(class_())
+    err = ValueError("my error")
+    for note in notes:
+        err.add_note(note)
+
+    env.logger.info({"error": err, "nested": {"error": err}, "errors": [err]})
+    log_json = env.load_json()
+
+    assert log_json["error"] == expected
+    assert log_json["nested"]["error"] == expected
+    assert log_json["errors"] == [expected]
+    return
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    sys.version_info < (3, 11), reason="Exception notes require Python 3.11 or higher"
+)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("class_", ALL_FORMATTERS)
+def test_dict_exception_note_subclass(
+    env: LoggingEnvironment, class_: type[BaseJsonFormatter]
+) -> None:
+    class Note(str):
+        """A string subclass accepted by add_note."""
+
+    err = ValueError("my error")
+    err.add_note(Note("context"))
+    env.set_formatter(class_())
+    env.logger.info({"error": err})
+
+    assert env.load_json()["error"] == "ValueError: my error\ncontext"
+    return
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("class_", ALL_FORMATTERS)
+def test_dict_exception_message_compatibility(
+    env: LoggingEnvironment, class_: type[BaseJsonFormatter]
+) -> None:
+    class CustomError(Exception):
+        """An exception with a custom formatted message."""
+
+        def __format__(self, format_spec: str) -> str:
+            return "custom message"
+
+    env.set_formatter(class_())
+    env.logger.info({"empty": ValueError(), "custom": CustomError("original message")})
+    log_json = env.load_json()
+
+    assert log_json["empty"] == "ValueError: "
+    assert log_json["custom"] == "CustomError: custom message"
+    return
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    sys.version_info < (3, 11), reason="Exception groups and notes require Python 3.11 or higher"
+)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("class_", ALL_FORMATTERS)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("with_group_note", [False, True])
+def test_dict_exception_group_notes(
+    env: LoggingEnvironment, class_: type[BaseJsonFormatter], with_group_note: bool
+) -> None:
+    child = ValueError("child error")
+    child.add_note("child note")
+    group = ExceptionGroup("my group", [child])
+    expected = "ExceptionGroup: my group (1 sub-exception)"
+    if with_group_note:
+        group.add_note("group note")
+        expected += "\ngroup note"
+    env.set_formatter(class_())
+    env.logger.info({"error": group})
+
+    assert env.load_json()["error"] == expected
+    return
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("class_", ALL_FORMATTERS)
 def test_custom_default(env: LoggingEnvironment, class_: type[BaseJsonFormatter]):
     def custom_default(obj):