Emergency video notarizations now are authorized temporarily under North Carolina law for most notarial acts until Aug. 1, 2020, as a result of the State of Emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Previously, a notarization had to be conducted with the notary and principal signer in close physical proximity. N.C. Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall advocated to the governor and General Assembly for additional flexibility for North Carolina’s 157,000 commissioned notaries public and those they serve.
“These emergency video notarizations will allow crucial business transactions, real estate transactions, medical documents, court documents, and all other important documents to be notarized in a healthy and expedient manner during this time of stay-at-home orders and social distancing,” Marshall said in a release. “This added flexibility protects the health and safety of our citizens, and helps keep our economy moving.”
Personal appearance before a notary is the most trusted form of identity verification when signing important documents such as title transfers, real estate mortgages or wills. But during these unprecedented times, Marshall and secretary of state staff proactively worked with professional associations, businesses, notary experts, legislative leaders, the governor’s office and other crucial stakeholders to ensure signatures may be authenticated safely while at the same time maintaining North Carolina’s traditionally strong safeguards against impostor dealings.
The secretary of state previously issued recommended best practices for notaries while social distancing.
Senate Bill 704 establishes the technology and record-keeping requirements for the emergency video notarizations, including maintenance of notary journal records for 10 years. It also establishes a process for documents still required to have an original “wet” signature. Identification requirements under the current notary law remain.
Notaries public always may decline to perform a notarial act if not satisfied the principal’s identity has been adequately established, or when fraud is suspected. The Emergency video notarization requirements can be found on the secretary of state’s website at www.sosnc.gov.
The new law states: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a notary may perform an emergency video notarization using video conference technology provided all of the requirements of the law are satisfied. A notary who is not satisfied that the principal’s identity has been proven by satisfactory evidence shall not be required to complete an emergency video notarization. An emergency video notarization shall not change any originality verification requirements for recording with a register of deeds, clerk of superior court, or other government or private office” in North Carolina.
It defines video conference technology as electronic communication that:
- Occurs in real time and allows direct interaction between the principal seeking the notary’s services and the notary so that each can communicate simultaneously by sight and sound through an electronic device or process.
- Includes audio with sound clear enough that each participant in the notarial act can hear and understand all other participants.
- Has sufficient quality to allow a clear and unobstructed visual observation of the face of each participant, and any identification provided by the principal for a sufficient time to allow the notary to determine if it is satisfactory evidence. The notary will determine if the time is sufficient.
- Is not prerecorded video or audio or both.
The technology may be capable of recording by means of one of the following:
- The video conference technology’s recording and storage services.
- An independent video recording device.
- Electronically saved screenshots clearly showing each participant’s face, identification presented by the principal, and the notarized document.
“The requirement of personal appearance, appear in person before a notary, physical presence, and presence, as those terms are used in this chapter, are satisfied for the purpose of an emergency video notarization if the notary is physically present in North Carolina, the principal verifies to the notary that he or she is physically present in North Carolina at the time of the notarization, the principal identifies the county where he or she is located at the time of the notarial act, and the principal and notary use video conference technology that complies with the requirements of this section,” the bill states.
Notaries with personal knowledge of a principal may rely on the video conference technology to verify the principal’s identity unless the notary requires satisfactory evidence. Notaries who don’t have personal knowledge of a principal must require satisfactory evidence of the principal’s identity. This requirement is satisfied based on at least one document that meets all of the following requirements:
- Is current or, if expired, did not expire prior to March 10, 2020,
- Is issued by a federal, state or federal or state-recognized tribal government agency,
- Bears a photographic image of the principal’s face, and
- Has both the principal’s signature and a physical description of the principal.
Principals must verbally state what documents are being signed for the notarial record. If an original wet-signed notarization is not required on a wet-signed document, the principal must transmit a legible copy of the signed document to the notary by fax or other electronic means on the same day it was signed. The notary then will notarize the document on the same day he or she receives it, and transmit the notarized document back to the principal or the principal’s designee by physical delivery, fax or other electronic means on the same day the notary signed the document.
If a wet-signed notarization is required on a wet-signed document, the principal must transmit a legible copy of the signed document by fax or other electronic means to the notary on the same day on which the document was signed and also deliver the original signed document to the notary by mail or other physical method. The notary then must compare the original document with the document transmitted by fax or other electronic means. If the faxed or electronic document is the same as the document received by mail or physical delivery, the notary will notarize the wet signature on the original document and date the notarial act as of the date of the act observed using video conference technology and promptly transmit the original wet-notarized original document to the principal or the principal’s designee by mail or other physical delivery as directed by the principal.
Notaries who perform emergency video notarizations must record information about the notarization in a notary journal that is the exclusive property of the notary. The journal must be retained by the notary for at least 10 years and may be maintained in electronic form. The journal must be kept in a secure location. The notary must not allow another person to make entries in the journal. Notaries shall at minimum keep the following information in the journal for each emergency video notarization:
- The time of day when the notary observed the signing of the document by each principal and was presented with the principal's acceptable form of identification.
- The date of the completion of the emergency video notarization notarial certificate.
- The last and first name of each principal.
- The type of notarial act performed.
- The type of document notarized or proceeding performed.
- The type of acceptable form of identification presented including, if applicable, the issuing agency and identification number on the identification presented.
- The type of video conference technology used during the emergency video notarization.
- A statement that the notary and each principal could see and hear each other.
- Whether any other person was present with the principal at the time of signature and if so, the name of that person.
Third parties involved in transactions that utilize emergency video notarization may require additional information to be included in the journal, such as inclusion of a recording in the notary’s journal or the method used by the notary to determine that a wet-signed original document is the same as the faxed or electronically submitted document.
As public officials, notaries must maintain the confidentiality of a principal’s documents at all times.
The secretary of state may issue interpretive guidance or issue emergency or temporary rules as necessary to ensure the integrity of the emergency video notarization measures provided for in the bill.