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 Martin County Registrar of Deeds

 
Registrar of Deeds
Mrs. Tina P. Manning
Martin County Governmental Center
305 East Main Street
Phone: 252-789-4320
Fax: 252-789-4329
Hours: 8:00AM to 5:00PM Monday - Friday

We would like to welcome you to the Register of Deeds webpage for Martin County located in Williamston, North Carolina. We encourage all of you to visit our courthouse and wonderful county.

Our webpage contains general information that our office provide. This includes Vital Records of Marriages, Births, Deaths, as well as Veterans Discharge Records (DD-214’s). While these are not shown here they are available in our office, which is located on the 1st floor of the Martin County Governmental Building in Williamston.

Our deeds are now available online at www.martinrod.org.

You may call us with questions regarding any thing to do with our preservation of records for your use.

Record all types of land records; deeds, easements, agreements, also deeds of trust, assignments, releases, plats, etc.

  • Maintain an index on all instruments recorded beginning in 1771.
  • Record Uniformed Commercial Codes (UCC’s), any amendments, assignments, releases & terminations on UCC’s are filed as fixture filings, can be attached to the property or extracted from property (timber, minerals, etc) 
  • UCC’s are now recorded in the real estate books with other recordings effective July 1, 2001. 
  • Record plats (surveys of property) 
  • Maintain an index to plats 
  • Keep a record of all births that take place in Martin County beginning October, 1913 
  • Keep a record of delayed births of individuals born in Martin County that have created their birth certificates 
  • Keep a record of all deaths that take place in Martin County beginning October, 1913 
  • Issue certified copies of birth, marriage & death records 
  • Issue marriage license 
  • Maintain an index to marriage records beginning 1872-1882 (index only), 1883 – present copies of marriage licenses 
  • Record DD-214’s (military discharge records) 
  • Maintain an index to military records 
  • Issue certified copies of military records by proper representative. 
  • Record & maintain assumed name, partnership & incorporation instruments. Forms may be obtained from www.nccommerce.com 
  • Give oaths of office to notaries commissioned in Martin County 
  • Maintain index to notaries 
  • Certify notaries certification 
  • Prepare an alphabetical jury list from numbers drawn by the Clerk of Court’s Office list signed by sheriff’s secretary. Make a copy for the sheriff & clerk’s office. 
  • Help any person that needs help with our records & make copies if requested
FEE PAGE

When a document is presented for registration that consists of multiple instruments, the fee will be ten dollars ($10.00) for each additional instrument. A document consists of multiple instruments when it contains two or more instruments with different legal consequences or intent, each of which is separately executed acknowledged and could be recorded alone.

Checks / Money orders should be made payable to: Martin County Register of Deeds

All instruments that are probated $14.00 1st page
$3.00 each additional page
Re-recorded instruments Same price as original recording
(unless additional pages added, then $3 per additional page)
Certified copies $5.00 1st page
$2.00 each additional page
Filings (instruments not probated) $12.00 1st page
$3.00 each additional page
State Right of Way Plans $21.00 1st page
$5.00 each additional page
Cancellations, Certificates of Satisfaction or Notice of Satisfactions No Fee
Plats/Map Recording $21.00 per page (18” x 24”)
Excise Tax on Deeds $2.00 per $1000 (based on purchase price)
DD-214’s (Military Discharges) No Fee 1st copy (No fee for recording)
$5.00 each additional copies
Certificates-(Certified Births, Deaths, Marriages) $10.00 full size / $11.00 wallet size
Amendments (Births / Deaths) $35.00 ($20.00-county / $15.00 state)
Legitimations $32.50 ($10.00-county / $22.50 state)
Marriage Licenses $50.00
Uncertified Copies (Xerox) $0.25 per page
Delayed Births/Marriages $20.00 (includes certified copy)
If Delayed Birth partially done in another county-$10 per county
Notary’s oath $10.00
UCC Fees (after July 1, 2001-Real Estate filing) $38.00 < 2 pages
$45.00 3 to 10 pages
$45.00 1st 10 pages + $2.00 each additional page
Disclaimer: Fees subject to change
Vital Records

The following types of records are maintained by the Martin County Register of Deeds office:

Marriage records
Birth and Death records
Delayed Births

The only persons by law that may request a certified copy of a vital record are:

Yourself
Your spouse
Your mother/father
Your brother/sister
Your child/grandchildren
Your grandmother/grandfather
A person seeking information for legal determination of personal or property right (proof required)
An authorized agent, attorney or legal representative f other person named on the vital record

Note: Uncertified copies are available to the public.

To obtain a certified copy of a record, you may use the following printable form:

Application for Certified Copy of Vital Record
Certified copies: $10.00 each
Non-certified copies: $ .25 each

Send check or money order to the following address:
Tina P. Manning
Register of Deeds
Martin County
PO Box 348
Williamston, NC 27892

Self-addressed, stamped envelopes are appreciated. For further information, call (252) 789-4320.

See our Genealogy page for more information about records.

Marriages

The premarital physical is no longer required.

Both bride and groom must be present and need the following:

Proof of age. Martin County Register of Deeds office will accept a certified copy of your birth certificate or a valid North Carolina Driver’s License, Permit or ID or Military ID or valid Passport. If applicants are under the age of 18, we encourage you to contact the Register of Deeds office for further information.

Proof of your social security number. You will need to show us your social security card, a W-2, a check stub or something that has your social security number computer generated on it.

Applicants who are not eligible for a social security number may obtain a marriage affidavit attesting to this fact. The affidavit can be printed out here.

Immigrants may use their INS number for social security number.

Divorced applicants must know month and year the divorce was finalized. If divorce was finalized in the same month applying for license, then you would need to know the month, day & year. If divorce is the same day as applying license you would also need to know the time.

The license is good immediately upon issuance and is valid for 60 days.

The fee for the license is $50.00. Cash, checks or money orders are accepted.

Marriage licenses are issued between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. It is strongly suggested to come in after 8:30 AM and before 4:30 PM if possible.

If you plan to be married by the magistrate after obtaining a license please call them regarding the office hours and other information regarding the ceremony and fees.

If you need a copy of your marriage license, you may acquire it at our office or mail to PO Box 348 Williamston, NC 28792. Please be sure to sign your request.

To speed up the application processing time, you may print out the following completed form and bring with you the Register of Deeds office. Download the application for marriage license form.

If requesting a certified marriage certificate, you may download the Vital Record Application and fill out Marriage Certificate section.

Instrument Recording Standards

Any instruments executed on or after July 1, 2002, must comply with changes according to North Carolina General Statutes (NCGS) 161-10(a). This applies to the date instruments are executed, not the date instruments are presented for recording.

  1. All instruments must be presented on 8 ½” x 11” or 8 ½” x 14” paper. 
  2. Have a blank margin of 3” at the top of first page and of ½” blank margins on the remaining sides of the first page and on all sides of subsequent pages. All exhibits and attachments to documents must also comply. 
  3. Instruments must be typed or printed in black on white paper in a legible font that is not smaller than 10 points size. 
  4. Blanks in an instrument may be completed in pen (printed) and corrections to an instrument may be made in pen. 
  5. Have text typed or printed on one side of a page only. 
  6. State the type of instrument at the top of the first page.

If an instrument does not meet all of these requirements, the register of deeds shall register the instrument after collecting the fee of $25.00 for nonstandard documents as required by GS 161-101(a) (19) in addition to the recording fee.

Genealogy
The following types of records are maintained by the Martin County Register of Deeds office:
Birth Certificates
1913-current in 1913.		 The state of North Carolina officially began keeping birth certificates (In some outlying areas it began a bit later.) Birth Certificates tell where a child was born, who the parents were and their age at the time of the birth. Other information is sometimes listed such as occupation of the father, number of children already in the household, etc.
Delayed Birth Certificates
(years vary)		 If someone, somehow, escaped the notice of a birth certificate registrar or happened to be born before births were listed, they could have applied for a delayed birth certificate. To obtain such a certificate, individuals had to supply documentation, often a school record.
Death Certificates
1913-current

North Carolina began keeping Death Certificates in 1913, an ancestor died before this time, one must turn to such record as wills, tombstones and family Bibles to find the death date. Death certificates contain the date of death and birth as well as the parents’ names and cause of death and birth as well as the parents’ names and cause of death—and sometimes a good bit more.

One must remember that this information was not supplied by the subject under consideration. All information on a death certificate is supplied by an “informant.” Informants are often family members but that does not mean that the information they supplied is 100% accurate.

Marriage Records
1872-1882 index only
1883-current

During the majority of North Carolina’s history, most of its citizens got married in any manner that suited them. Ministers and magistrates were nice, but often, one concludes, not necessary. This makes the existence of public marriage records chancy at best, but some do exist.

Officially, there were two ways to get married in the state up until 1868. One was through the publication of banns whereby marriage would be announced on three consecutive Sundays in church. If no one spoke up against the merger, then the couple was free to wed. A certificate stating that this procedure had been followed was supposed to have been created, but, of course, did not have to be placed on file anywhere.

The second method which lasted from 1741 – 1868 (and overlapped the period of banns) involved the issuance of a marriage bond. The bridegroom obtained these through the clerk of the County Court. They signified nothing more than that the couple listed intended to marry. It is possible that they changed their mind later and never tied the knot. Originals to all marriage bonds—except those from Granville County which retained its copies—are in the State Archives. Bonds were filed in the County where the intended bride resided. Information on bonds included bride and groom’s names, the bondsman’s name and witness (often the clerk of court). Marriage licenses existed for most of North Carolina’s history but were not required to be kept until 1851. In 1868, bonds were discontinued and the Register of Deeds in each county issued the required marriage licenses.

Wills
(Maintained by Martin County Clerk of Court)		 The person who makes a will is called the “testator” or “devisee.” The folks who get the goodies are “legatees’ or “devisees.” The fellow who makes sure that the final wishes are carried out is the “executor” (male) or “executrix” (female). “Probate is the process by which the will becomes official and the written desires are validated. There are usually three copies of a will: the original, the one copied into the county clerk’s records and the one issued to the executor. The copy that is committed to the county clerk’s book will often contain probate information: witnesses, executor, probate dates, etc.