General Counsel Manual

Supervising Notaries

Practice Tip: Even if you are a lawyer but not a Notary Public, you should be aware of what North Carolina notaries can and cannot do. You are not only responsible for supervision of staff under State Bar rules, but in some circumstances, knowingly instructing a notary to commit misconduct may subject you to criminal prosecution.

Practice Tip: Ensure that your employees who are notaries keep journals. If they do not, remind them of their statutory responsibility to protect citizens against fraud and forgery and if they are not keeping a journal they are not doing all they can do to fulfill this statutory requirement.

Practice Tip: A notary’s stamp or seal belongs to him or her, even if you pay for it. Do not try to access, use or keep a notary’s stamp or seal (unless it is yours, of course).

Deposition Practice Tip:

Court reporters who are notaries public have to positively identify witnesses in a deposition before they can swear in the witnesses. Therefore, most witnesses will need to bring picture ID with them to the deposition (see below for alternatives). Therefore, adding “bring a picture ID to the deposition” to your deposition instructions for witnesses may be helpful.

The picture ID has to be:

• A current document issued by a federal, state, or federal or state-recognized tribal government agency,
• Have the photographic image of the person’s face, and
• Either the signature or physical description of the individual.

Alternatively, the witness-deponent may be identified by personal knowledge if:

• The court reporter-notary personally knows him or her, or
• If an impartial credible witness who is personally known to both the notary and the principal swears or affirms the principal has the identity claimed.

Note: the terms “credible witness” and “personal knowledge” are defined in the Notary Act (G.S. §§ 10B-3(5), 10B-3 (17)).

The reason is that administering an oath is an official notarial act in which a notary must positively identify the affiant. Failure to do so is a clear violation of the Notary Act and could result in the notary being found guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. G.S. §§ 10B-60(c)(3).