Be About Your NC Notary News

Hello NC Notaries and General Public! Today we're tackling a particularly critical aspect of notary practices in North Carolina: The Right to Refuse Service. In the line of duty, notaries are faced with a myriad of documents, each with its own importance and implication. It's the notary's duty to notarize documents that are legal, truthful, and in the interest of public good. This role, however, also brings up the question: What if a document contains false information? Can a notary refuse to notarize such documents? Let's dig into the specifics and find our answers in the North Carolina General Statutes (N.C.G.S. 10B-22(a)) and North Carolina Administrative Code (18 NCAC 07B .0903). # Right to Refuse Service: A Notary's Stance According to N.C.G.S. 10B-22(a), a notary is strictly prohibited from completing a notarial certificate if he or she believes it contains false information. This statute ensures that notaries serve as a trusted and integral part o

As a notary public for North Carolina we oftentimes wonder how can we have access to resources that will help us more in our field. The Secretary of State is a good start because it has a wealth of information on their site: www.ncsos.gov/notary will give you a lot of assistance. Periodically the layout may change so I encourage you to set 15 minutes or more to navigate through the site to familiarize yourself with what they have we can utilize. In my training I go over "loose certificates" that are all found on the SOS website. Many of you notaries have heard of the NNA aka National Notary Association. Well this association is great for a lot resources mainly for notaries that are interested in becoming "independent contractors" or "signing agents" to facilitate mortgage loan closings. Due to their time of being in business and the notaries they have assisted in all 50 states they are known as the preferred company by many signing services that will consi

  Hello Notaries of North Carolina, were you aware, electronic notarization has been available in North Carolina since 2005 under the Electronic Notary Act. At sometime between 2020 - 2022 North Carolina changed the language from electronic notary to in-person electronic notary aka IPEN to help specify more of what we do in this State when performing this type of notarization because a RON aka remote online notary also handles electronic notarization in a very different way that NC notaries does not perform as of this date. Speaking of RON, in North Carolina it is called REN, remote electronic notarization, because a notary must be an electronic commissioned notary also. This class is only 3.5 hours and can be taken at your local community college.  In notary language IPEN an adjective means in-person electronic notary. Well in this article we are speaking the same language, however, we will be covering what the noun, IPEN is.  As the demand for electronic notarization continues to gro

  In August the Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall and Ozie Stallworth, the Director of the Notary Enforcement and Electronic Notary Division, decided to take their "Fireside Chats" on the road and off YouTube to give notaries in the near by areas to meet and chat with them. December 5, 2022 made number 3. We were able to receive insight from our NC Notary Liaison of the NCNA and Certified Commissioned NC Notary Public Instructor of Fayetteville Tech, Mike Brown that was part of the audience. This is what he shared with the organization afterwards... " Our retiring President Dr. J. Larry Keen and our incoming President Dr.   Mark   Sorrells were on hand to great the team, and Dr. Keen and Secretary Marshall it turns our are old friends and have worked together to include in Moldova, with Dr. & Mrs. Keen accompanying Secretary Marshall on one of her trips to Moldova. Also in attendance with the Honorable Anita H. Lane, Register of Deeds for Sampson County in attend

  Additional services that a notary public can take advantage of is assistance with I-9 Forms. Employers may designate an authorized representative to fill out Forms I-9 on behalf of their company, including personnel officers, foremen, agents or notary public . The Department of Homeland Security does not require the authorized representative to have specific agreements or other documentation for Form I-9 purposes. If an authorized representative fills out Form I-9 on behalf of the employer, the employer is still liable for any violations in connection with the form or the verification process. When completing Form I-9, the employer or authorized representative must physically examine, with the employee being physically present, each document presented to determine if it reasonably appears to be genuine and relates to the employee presenting it. Reviewing or examining documents via webcam is not permissible. If the authorized representative refuses to complete Form I-9 (including prov

  As a notary we are taught that we are non-attorneys in the state of North Carolina and therefore our focus is to ensure that all documentation presented to us has no blank spaces prior to us notarizing it. The only part of the document that we have full control of is "our certificate." In the example, an image of the acknowledgment certificate gives you the seven to eight essentials that certificate must include: The venue The name of the notary in the body text (may or may not be applicable) The name of principle signer(s)  The date of the notarization The notary's signature The notary's printed name The notary's expiration date The area where the notary's seal/stamp should appear If any of the following things are not listed on the certificate, we can either add them or add a "loose certificate." In the example we must always enter the current city and state that we are in at the time of the notarization. If there's an area in the paragraph t