North Carolina General Statutes 10B-65. Acts of notaries public in certain instances validated
(a) Any acknowledgment taken and any instrument notarized by a person prior to qualification as a notary public but after commissioning or recommissioning as a notary public, or by a person whose notary commission has expired, is validated. The acknowledgment and instrument have the same legal effect as if the person qualified as a notary public at the time the person performed the act.
(b) All documents bearing a notarial seal and that contain any of the following errors are validated and given the same legal effect as if the errors had not occurred:
(1) The date of the expiration of the notary’s commission is stated, whether correctly or erroneously.
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 10B-65
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- month: shall be construed to mean a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed; and the word "year" a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed; and the word "year" alone shall be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- seal: shall be construed to include an impression of such official seal, made upon the paper alone, as well as an impression made by means of a wafer or of wax affixed thereto. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(2) The notarial seal does not contain a readable impression of the notary’s name, contains an incorrect spelling of the notary’s name, or does not bear the name of the notary exactly as it appears on the commission, as required under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 10B-37
(3) The notary’s signature does not comport exactly with the name on the notary commission or on the notary seal, as required by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 10B-20
(4) The notarial seal contains typed, printed, drawn, or handwritten material added to the seal, fails to contain the words “North Carolina” or the abbreviation “NC”, or contains correct information except that instead of the abbreviation for North Carolina contains the abbreviation for another state.
(5) The date of the acknowledgement, the verification or proof, or the oath or affirmation states the correct day and month but lacks a year or states an incorrect year.
(c) All deeds of trust in which the notary was named in the document as a trustee only are validated.
(d) All notary acknowledgments performed before July 1, 2013, bearing a notarial seal are validated.
(e) This section applies to notarial acts performed on or before April 1, 2021. (1945, c. 665; 1947, c. 313; 1949, c. 1; 1953, c. 702; 1961, cc. 483, 734; 1965, c. 37; 1969, c. 83; c. 716, s. 1; 1971, c. 229, s. 1; 1973, c. 680, s. 1; 1977, c. 734, s. 1; 1979, c. 226, s. 2; c. 643, s. 1; 1981, c. 164, ss. 1, 2; 1983, c. 205, s. 1; 1985, c. 71, s. 1; 1987, c. 277, s. 9; 1989, c. 390, s. 9; 1991, c. 683, s. 2; 1997-19, s. 1; 1997-469, s. 2; 1998-228, s. 10; 1999-21, s. 2; 2001-154, s. 1; 2002-159, s. 27; 2003-38, s. 1; 2004-199, s. 6.; 2005-391, s. 4; 2008-194, s. 5; 2013-204, s. 1.5; 2021-91, s. 4(a).)