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Services / Obtaining Records
North Carolina started recording births and deaths in 1914. Additional birth information is available from the:
Census Bureau
P.O. Box 1545
Jeffersonville, IN 47131
North Carolina Vital Records can provide the necessary forms for you to obtain copies of birth and death certificates not held by this Office. The address is:
Vital Records
1903 MSC
Raleigh, NC 27699-1903
Phone: 919-733-3000
To Obtain a Copy of a Birth Certificate
Write to us giving the name at birth, date of birth, parents' names, and your relationship. The letter must be signed. The fee is $10 for a certified paper copy, which must be included with the request. Payment types accepted are cashier's check or money order, only. Send to:
Register of Deeds
226 Pollock Street
New Bern, NC 28560
Our office has marriage bond indexes dating to the early 1700s. We only have a registry until licenses started to be issued in 1909. Original marriage bonds are recorded in the:
Archives in History
109 E Jones Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
Phone: 919-807-7310
Our real estate indexes go back to the early 1700s.
Beginning January 1, 1995, the Register of Deeds Office followed the Minimum Standards for Indexing Real Property Instruments. This is published by the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Land Records Management Division in Raleigh, NC.
Documents recorded on or after July 1, 2002 must meet GS 161-14(b) as follows:
- Be 8 1/2 by 11 inches or 8 1/2 by 14 inches
- Have a 3 inch blank margin at top of first page and 1/2 inch blank margin on remaining sides of first page and on all sides of subsequent pages.
- Black type on white paper.
- Font size no smaller than 10 points (blanks in an instrument may be completed in pen and corrections to an instrument may be made in pen).
- Only one-sided typed or printed text
- Type of instrument at top of first page below blank margin
- The name of the preparer must be on page one of the document.
If a document presented for recording does not meet all of the requirements, the register shall first collect the new $25 fee for filing a "nonstandard document." After this fee has been collected, the register may then record the document and collect the applicable recording fees. Thus, where an instrument does not comply with the new recording standards, the register will collect 2 fees: one for being out of compliance and another for the actual recording. The register may in his or her discretion waive the nonstandard document fee under one circumstance. If the document is printed in a font size that is smaller than the 10 point, but the register finds that it is still legible, he or she may record the document without charging the standard fee. Legible means it must be able to be read once it is scanned.
Excise tax "stamps" is $1 per $500 of consideration on property.
Per Craven County Ordinance, all deeds must have the tax parcel ID number on the first page of the document.
The Register of Deeds Office does not have anything to do with wills. You need to contact the Clerk of Courts Office. They record wills. Their address:
Clerk of Court Office
P.O. Box 1187
New Bern, NC 28560
Phone: 252-639-3000
The Register of Deeds Office is unable to do genealogical research. However, the Register of Deeds office is pleased to have working with them the Craven County Genealogical Society. If you have genealogy questions, you may contact them through the Craven County Genealogical Society of North Carolina, Inc. website.