OK, now that I’ve gotten the kind of heavy stuff out of the way…now we can go with the story I was originally planning on writing this evening.
If we set the Wayback Machine for a little over two weeks ago, you would have found me in a classroom for the first time in about thirty years learning everything about becoming a Notary Public for the Old North State and then sitting one of the toughest examinations in the country to see if I had what it takes to win a commission.
Eight days ago, I received via EMAIL the orders from the Secretary of State to report to the Register of Deeds office in downtown Raleigh to take two oaths of office:
- The general oath of office prescribed in North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 11-11.
- The oath prescribed for officers as detailed in North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 11-7.
That, and fork over the state mandated $10 fee to the Register of Deeds who is also a Notary Public and commiserate with a now fellow Notary Public about what makes the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles so special they get an extra $1 fee they can charge. 🙂
At that point, my commission as a Notary Public was valid but I still needed the tools of the trade to really consider myself ready to exercise those duties on behalf of the people of North Carolina.
I had already scored the journal used to record notarial acts (got to keep those records for 10 years in case anyone ever asks after them or something ends up in court!). That was the easiest choice ever for obvious reasons… 🙂
Then there is the notary’s seal.
I had to upload the commission certificate because the contents of the seal is very exacting…county and name must be identical to the commission.
I opted for three of them: a round ink stamp, a rectangular ink stamp (with the Great Seal of North Carolina…sorry, couldn’t resist because I think it’s pretty nifty!), and a round embossing seal (that one is useful for titles as DMV can be very picky about the seal on those documents!).
Those arrived this afternoon after the excitement near WakeMed.
The tools are in place and I’m now ready and able to fulfill the duties of Notary Public of the State of North Carolina. Even though my oath was taken in Wake County, I can notarize documents anywhere in the state as long as we’re both physically in the state so I’m not opposed to the occasional road trip for mileage, if need be! 🙂
Yay!
The next step is another class in doing electronic notarization in a little less than a month which comes with another (you guessed it!) examination, application, fees, the oaths downtown, more fees and then the ability to do remote online notarization when that becomes the normal process on 1 Jul 2023.
But the journey will definitely have been worth it! 🙂
