Can a North Carolina notary public commission be granted to someone who cannot read or write?
Plain-English summary
The Notaries Public Deputy in the Secretary of State's Office asked the AG a direct question: can a person who cannot read or write hold a notary commission? Special Deputy Attorney General Jane P. Gray answered no.
The reasoning is short but layered. The notary eligibility statute, N.C.G.S. § 10-1.1(a), sets out the requirements for a notary public appointment in North Carolina. Two of those requirements depend on literacy on their face. Subparagraph (1) requires the applicant to complete an application form provided by the Secretary of State. Subparagraph (3) requires completion of a course of study on notary responsibilities and duties. Neither can be done by someone who cannot read or write.
The AG then went past the application step to the substantive notary functions. § 10-5 lists the powers a notary may exercise: acknowledging signatures, administering oaths, taking affidavits. None of those can be done responsibly by a notary who cannot read. The opinion identifies four specific literacy-dependent functions:
- Confirming the signer is signing the right document (a will rather than a deed, for example).
- Determining the signatures are valid (which requires reading them).
- Verifying the identification documents offered by the signer (driver's license, passport, military ID).
- Reading the notarial certificate to ensure it is correctly drafted before applying the seal.
Without literacy, a notary would either skip these steps (creating widespread risk of fraud and invalid acknowledgments) or have to rely on a third party (defeating the purpose of having an independent notary). Either way, the office cannot be exercised.
The AG's conclusion is a sensible reading of the statutory framework rather than an interpretation of a literacy-requirement clause. The statute does not say "must be able to read and write." The statute requires the applicant to do things that cannot be done illiterate. The literacy requirement falls out of the duties.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1987. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here. North Carolina enacted the Notary Public Act (Chapter 10B of the General Statutes) in 2005, replacing the older Chapter 10. Chapter 10B has an explicit literacy and English-language requirement (the applicant must be able to read and write English). The 1987 AG opinion essentially anticipated what the legislature later codified. Modern notary applicants should consult Chapter 10B and the Secretary of State's current rules; the 1987 framework no longer controls.
Background and statutory framework
A notary public is a public officer with the limited authority to perform certain acts that give documents legal force or evidentiary weight: acknowledging the signer's identity and willingness, administering oaths, taking affidavits. These acts depend on the notary's independent verification of the facts being attested. The notarial seal is a representation by the State that the verification took place.
If a notary cannot read the document being acknowledged, that representation breaks down. The signer could place a will in front of the notary saying it is a power of attorney; the notary, unable to read, would not catch the discrepancy. The notarial seal would then be applied to a document the signer may or may not have intended to sign. The reliance interest of any third party (the probate court, the bank, the title insurance company) trusting the notarial seal would be undermined.
The opinion was issued under the older Chapter 10 framework, before the comprehensive 2005 rewrite. The older Chapter 10 was a patchwork of provisions adopted over decades, without a single explicit eligibility statement. The AG's opinion was therefore working with implicit requirements (the application, the course of study) rather than an explicit literacy clause. The 2005 Notary Public Act consolidated and modernized the framework, including a direct statement that the applicant must be able to read and write English.
The Secretary of State's office, which commissions notaries in North Carolina, has the practical responsibility for screening applicants. The 1987 opinion gave the Deputy in charge of notaries a direct answer on a recurring question: an illiterate applicant cannot be commissioned, even if the applicant otherwise meets the residence, age, and good-character requirements.
Common questions
What about a notary who lost the ability to read due to vision loss or stroke after being commissioned?
The 1987 opinion does not address acquired loss of literacy. Most notary frameworks treat acquired inability to perform notarial duties as grounds for the notary to resign the commission or for the Secretary of State to revoke it. A notary who can no longer read documents cannot perform the office. North Carolina's current Chapter 10B includes provisions for resignation and revocation; an affected notary should consult the Secretary of State's notary division.
Can a notary use an interpreter or a friend to read the document?
The 1987 opinion does not address that scenario directly. The substantive concerns the AG raised would apply: relying on a third party to read the document undermines the notary's independent verification function. Modern notary practice generally requires the notary to personally read the relevant portions of the notarial certificate. Translation arrangements where the notary does not read English are not a workaround for the literacy requirement.
What if the applicant can speak and understand English but cannot read it?
The 1987 opinion treats literacy as the combined ability to read and write. The application form and the course of study require both. A person who can speak English fluently but cannot read or write it would have the same problem with the eligibility statute: they cannot complete the application form or the course of study. Chapter 10B in modern North Carolina makes the read-and-write requirement explicit.
Does the literacy requirement apply to all notarial acts, or just to certain ones?
The opinion frames it as applying to the qualifications for commissioning, which then determines whether the person can hold the office at all. Once commissioned, a notary can perform any of the acts authorized by § 10-5. The literacy concern is structural: an illiterate person cannot perform the office competently for any act, so should not be commissioned for any.
Can a notary acknowledge a document the notary cannot personally read because of language?
The opinion does not address foreign-language documents. Modern North Carolina notary practice generally permits notarization of documents not in English provided the notarial certificate itself is in English and the notary can verify the signer's identity and intent. A notary who is literate in English but not in the document's language is in a different situation from a notary who cannot read at all.
Source
Citations
- N.C.G.S. § 10-1.1(a)(1), (3) (notary eligibility, application, and course of study)
- N.C.G.S. § 10-5 (notary powers, acknowledging signatures)
Original opinion text
Requested By:
Ludelle R. Hatley Notaries Public Deputy Secretary of State's Office
Question:
Can a person who cannot read or write hold a notary commission?
Conclusion:
No.
G.S. 10-1.1(a) outlines the eligibility requirements for a notary appointment. Subparagraph (1) requires completion of an application on a form provided by the Secretary of State. Subparagraph
(3) requires completion of a course of study on notary responsibilities and duties. All of these requirements presuppose the ability to read and write.
In order to effectively exercise the powers of a notary as given in G.S. 10-5, the notary should be able to read the document for which he is acknowledging signatures to the extent he can confirm the individuals are signing the correct document, such as a will vs. a deed. Of a more basic nature, he would be unable to determine that the signatures are valid if he cannot read them. Similarly, he could not verify the identification documents offered by the person whose signature he is acknowledging.
LACY H. THORNBURG Attorney General
Jane P. Gray Special Deputy Attorney General