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    Professional notary services in North Carolina - Licensed and bonded notaries available for mobile and online notarization

    Professional Notary Public Services in North Carolina

    Licensed, Bonded & Insured Mobile and Online Notary Services

    Professional notary services throughout the Tar Heel State Our certified notaries provide same-day mobile notary services and secure online notarization throughout North Carolina.

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    Licensed & Bonded Notaries

    About Notary Services in North Carolina

    How North Carolina trains its notaries

    North Carolina runs one of the more procedurally strict notary programs in the Southeast. Every new applicant sits through a six-hour classroom course, passes a written exam at 80% or higher, and takes the oath of office at their county Register of Deeds before the commission goes live. The Secretary of State sets the rules, the General Assembly writes the fee schedule, and the result is a notary corps that's actually trained.

    Where notaries work in NC

    That training shows up at the closing table. Charlotte has been one of the country's busiest residential real estate markets since 2020, and Wake County around Raleigh has tracked close behind. Title companies in both markets lean heavily on mobile notaries who can run a signing in a kitchen or a coffee shop without slowing the file down. Closing on a house in Ballantyne, South End, or NoDa? The title company will usually send a notary for the closing itself. Everything else around the deal (refinances where you pick the notary, FSBOs, POAs, quitclaim deeds) routes through this directory. Same pattern in Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, and the bedroom communities outside Durham.

    Remote online notarization in NC

    Online notarization is newer here, and the history matters. North Carolina was a deliberate late adopter of remote online notarization. The General Assembly passed enabling legislation in 2022, then pushed the effective date for permanent RON out by a year. Permanent in-state RON authority went live July 1, 2024. That puts NC roughly a decade behind Virginia and several years behind Florida and Texas. Practically, RON in NC is real, but the pool of registered electronic notaries is still growing, especially compared to the volume of in-person mobile work you can book in the major metros today.

    What notaries can charge

    The fee rules are unusually clean. Ten dollars per signature for an in-person acknowledgment, jurat, or verification. Twenty-five dollars for a remote online notarization. Travel cost can be added separately if you agree to it in writing before the notary leaves. Anything beyond those numbers, you can decline.

    What this page covers

    This page covers what NC requires of its notaries, what you'll actually pay, which documents notaries here can handle, and the questions Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, Winston-Salem, Asheville, Wilmington, and Fayetteville residents ask before booking. Use the directory below to filter notaries by city, ZIP, and online capability.

    Notary Services in North Carolina

    State Regulations

    North Carolina notaries are commissioned by the Secretary of State for a five-year term, with no surety bond required.

    Average Pricing

    Notary services in North Carolina typically range from $18-$55 for a typical mobile appointment including travel.

    Service Features

    • Mobile notary services available
    • Remote online notarization authorized
    • Research Triangle specialists
    • Real estate services
    • Banking industry specialists

    North Carolina Notary Requirements

    Statutory requirements for becoming and operating as a notary public in North Carolina.

    Commission Term

    5 years

    Renewal required before expiration. Recommissioning application opens up to 10 weeks before the term ends.

    Surety Bond

    Not required

    North Carolina does not require a surety bond to obtain a notary commission.

    Training & Exam

    Required

    Six hours of classroom instruction approved by the Secretary of State, completed within the three months preceding application (G.S. 10B-8(a)). Licensed members of the NC State Bar are exempt. Written examination approved by the Secretary of State. Applicants must answer at least 80% of questions correctly (G.S. 10B-8(a)).

    Minimum Age

    18+

    Residency

    Resident or in-state work / business

    Out-of-state applicants may qualify if they have a regular place of work or business in North Carolina.

    Remote Online Notarization

    Legal since 2024

    Permanent remote online notarization authority took effect July 1, 2024 under Session Law 2023-57 (SB 552). An NC notary must separately register as an electronic notary with the Secretary of State to perform RON. The signer must be physically located in North Carolina at the time of the notarial act.

    Source: North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Notary Public Section. Last verified 2026-05-14.

    North Carolina Notary Fee Schedule

    Statutory maximum fees for notarial acts performed in North Carolina.

    Notarial ActMaximum Fee
    Acknowledgment, verification, or proof (paper)$10.00 per signature
    Jurat (paper)$10.00 per signature
    Oath or affirmation (no signature)$10.00 per person

    Per G.S. 10B-31: $10 per signature for paper acknowledgments, jurats, verifications, or proofs; $10 per person for oaths/affirmations without a signature; $15 per signature for electronic (in-person) notarizations; $25 per signature for remote online notarizations. Travel may be billed at the federal business mileage rate if agreed to in writing before travel. NC notaries do not certify copies, so no statutory copy-certification fee exists.

    Statutory maximums set by North Carolina. Travel and convenience fees may apply for mobile services and are negotiated separately between the notary and the signer.

    Documents Commonly Notarized in North Carolina

    The document types that drive most North Carolina notary appointments, with practical notes on what to expect.

    Real Estate Closing Packages

    Deeds, deeds of trust, closing affidavits, and the rest of the title-company stack. Mecklenburg and Wake County see the heaviest closing volume in NC, and mobile notaries are the local norm for buyer- and seller-side signings.

    Powers of Attorney

    Statutory POA forms under the NC Uniform Power of Attorney Act require notarization. NC also recognizes specialized POAs for vehicle title transfers, real estate transactions, and healthcare decisions, each with their own form requirements.

    Healthcare Advance Directives and Living Wills

    North Carolina's Advance Directive for a Natural Death and the Health Care Power of Attorney both require notarization plus two qualifying witnesses. Witnesses can't be heirs at law, attending providers, or paid employees of the facility.

    Vehicle Title Transfers

    NCDMV title assignments and the seller's signature on the back of a private-sale title need to be notarized. Bring the unsigned title. The notary watches you sign. Sign before the notary and they can't help you.

    Affidavits and Sworn Statements

    Used in NC family-law and civil cases, insurance claims, financial-account disputes, and immigration filings. A jurat is the right notarial act here. The notary administers an oath and watches you sign.

    Loan Signings and Refinance Packages

    Charlotte's banking corridor and the lenders that route through it generate steady loan-signing work. Refis, HELOCs, and reverse mortgages routinely use loan signing agents pulled from the NC directory.

    I-9 Employment Verification

    Remote new hires sometimes need a notary to act as the employer's authorized representative for Section 2 of Form I-9. NC notaries can do this, but it's not technically a notarial act under state law. Follow USCIS guidance, not G.S. 10B.

    Apostille and Document Authentication

    For documents going abroad, the NC Secretary of State issues apostilles for Hague Convention countries and authentication certificates for non-Hague countries. The document still needs an underlying NC notarization first.

    How to Find a Notary in North Carolina

    Finding a notary in North Carolina comes down to two questions: what are you signing, and when do you need it done. For most signers, the answer is a mobile notary at your location or a remote online notarization booked through this directory. A few specific cases route differently, and those are worth knowing about. Most don't apply to most signers.

    Mobile notaries are what the directory does best. Book one and they come to you: your home, your office, a coffee shop in South End, your hotel near the airport, a hospital room, an assisted-living facility in Greensboro, a closing table at a kitchen island in Cary. NC mobile notaries on this directory work nights and weekends. No account opening, no membership, no waiting until Monday at 9am. Need a power of attorney notarized at your parent's nursing home in Asheville at 7pm? That's the use case. Refinance signing in Ballantyne at 8am before work? Also that. Quitclaim deed in Wilmington on a Saturday because you're closing on a property Monday? Book it the same day. Filter by city, ZIP, and online capability to find one near you.

    Remote online notarization (RON) is the other path. This directory connects you with NC-registered electronic notaries who can run the appointment in 15 to 20 minutes from wherever you happen to be sitting in North Carolina. RON is useful when you need an NC-notarized signature for a recipient in another state, when an estate document needs to move quickly, or when you're in a rural NC county where the closest mobile notary is an hour away. The signer has to be physically located in North Carolina at the time of the act. Statutory cap is $25 per signature, separate from any platform fee. The Secretary of State authorized permanent RON on July 1, 2024 under Session Law 2023-57, so this is recent enough that not every NC notary has registered as an electronic notary yet. The ones who have are filtered into the RON view.

    Real estate is a special case worth calling out. If you're closing on a purchase through a title company, the title company will usually arrange the notary for the closing itself. Everything else in real estate, you source. Refinances where you pick the notary instead of the lender's vendor. FSBO closings. POA executions when one buyer or seller can't be at the table. Quitclaim deeds between family members. Beneficiary deeds. The directory has notaries with active loan signing experience in Mecklenburg, Wake, Durham, and Guilford counties, and outside those metros, NC mobile notaries who run loan packages routinely.

    One last option to mention. If you happen to bank with a large NC institution, are an account holder, have a single document, and can get to a branch during banking hours, in-branch notary is sometimes free as a courtesy. That's a narrow set of conditions. Outside it (multi-document signings, after-hours, non-account-holders, signers who can't easily travel, anything mobile or online), this directory is the right tool.

    NC notaries here are commissioned by the Secretary of State, capped under G.S. 10B-31's statutory fees, and filterable by city, ZIP, and online capability. Most NC signings booked through the directory get done the same day.

    Major Service Areas in North Carolina

    Charlotte

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    Raleigh

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    Greensboro

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    Durham

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    Winston-Salem

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    Fayetteville

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    North Carolina Notary FAQs

    Answers to the questions North Carolina residents most often ask before booking a notary.

    Yes. Permanent remote online notarization (RON) authority took effect July 1, 2024 under Session Law 2023-57 (SB 552). To use it, the notary must be an NC notary who has separately registered as an electronic notary with the Secretary of State, and you (the signer) must be physically located in North Carolina at the time of the notarial act. The platform has to meet the technology standards in Part 4A of Article 2, Chapter 10B. The statutory maximum fee for a remote notarization is $25 per notarized principal signature, separate from any platform fee the technology provider charges. Not every NC notary is RON-registered yet, so confirm capability before booking.

    G.S. 10B-31 sets hard caps. $10 per signature for an in-person acknowledgment, jurat, verification, or proof. $10 per person for an oath or affirmation without a signature. $15 per signature for an electronic (in-person) notarization. $25 per signature for a remote online notarization. A notary can charge less, but not more. Travel time is not included in those caps. A mobile notary can bill actual mileage at the federal business mileage rate if you agree to the travel fee in writing before the notary travels to you. Convenience fees beyond mileage are negotiated and not separately capped by statute.

    No. Under G.S. 10B-5(b)(2), you have to either reside in North Carolina or have a regular place of work or business in the state. If you live in South Carolina or Virginia but commute to a job in Charlotte, Raleigh, or Asheville, you can apply. You would be commissioned in the NC county where you work rather than your home county. You still have to complete the six-hour course, pass the 80% exam, and take the oath of office at that county Register of Deeds. The commission term is five years regardless of where you reside.

    Five years, per G.S. 10B-9. The clock starts when you take the oath of office at the Register of Deeds, not the date the Secretary of State signs the commission. You have 45 days from the notification to appear at the Register of Deeds and qualify; miss that window and the commission has to be returned and you start over. To recommission, apply no earlier than 10 weeks before the expiration date. You will need to pass the written exam again, but the six-hour course is not required for renewals unless your commission has lapsed for more than a year (or you're a licensed NC State Bar member, in which case both the course and exam are waived).

    Yes, with one important caveat: the notarial act has to be performed while the notary is physically located in North Carolina, and the signer almost always needs to be in NC as well (RON is the only exception, and only for NC-based signers). The receiving state generally honors an NC notarization under interstate recognition rules. For international use, the document will need either an apostille (for Hague Convention countries) or an authentication certificate (for non-Hague countries) from the NC Secretary of State. Ask the receiving party what they require before mailing.

    A current government-issued photo ID. NC notary law requires identification through a document that is current (not expired), issued by a federal, state, or state-recognized tribal government, and that includes the signer’s photograph and either a signature or a physical description. In practice that means a driver’s license, state ID card, US passport, US military ID, or a federally recognized tribal ID. Expired IDs are not acceptable, even by a day. If you do not have ID, NC allows identification through a credible witness who personally knows both you and the notary, but the notary has to know the witness too, which limits this option to situations where you and the notary share a mutual acquaintance.

    Bring the document unsigned. The notary needs to watch you sign (they cannot verify a signature you already made) for acknowledgments, jurats, and verifications. Bring your current photo ID. Read the document beforehand so you understand what you are signing; an NC notary who is not a licensed attorney is prohibited from explaining the content for you. If you are using a mobile notary, confirm the fee structure (including any travel cost) in writing before they head out. For a RON appointment, charge your device, find good lighting, and have your ID in hand. The credential analysis step is fussy about glare.

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