Posted by busybnotary on 2/14/09 2:44pm
Msg #277560

Borrower has an aka??

The borrower is refinancing. Deed has her pld married name so they are having her sign her new name aka her old married name. How do I fill out the acknowledgement? Her i.d. had her new name and 2 people witnessed to her by her old married name.

Reply by jba/fl on 2/14/09 2:51pm
Msg #277562

Since Jane Doe appeared before me w/id as Jane Doe, that is how I identified her and that is what I would use on the acknowledgement. I have nothing to say she was Jane Smith or whatever she called herself.

But, this may be allowable in FL and not in CA, so I would also wait until CA notaries weigh in on this.

Reply by Leon_CO on 2/14/09 3:14pm
Msg #277563

I had a closing recently for a woman who had an aka.

In the acknowledgement section, I printed her name + aka name

(i.e. '... acknowledged by Jane Doe, aka Jane Smith')

The title company also had her aka on the Deed of Trust signature line. Does it have the aka for your's there?

Reply by LynnNC on 2/14/09 3:46pm
Msg #277565

I wonder why they didn't prepare a Quit Claim Deed to correct her name.

Reply by SheilaSJCA on 2/14/09 8:15pm
Msg #277586

You must follow CA law- Don't listen to what people in other states recommend, or even the signing service. I would never put an AKA on an acknowledgement. It seems to me that you are not sure who she is, if you have to give her two names.
Are you saying they want her to sign all the docs with her current name followed by AKA....old name?
The title company needs to correct with a quit claim deed or grant deed, (I forget which) to change her name; it is done all the time, and she should take advantage of the opportunity to get it corrected now while she has the lender on the hook. She will pay for it, either way, but easier to do it now, when escrow is opened, where such issues come up regularly. Otherwise, she will have to deal it with down the road again,i f she wants to refi's etc... plus it is sloppy and poor title work, not to get it corrected now when she has a loan in process.

Reply by ReneeK_MI on 2/15/09 5:00am
Msg #277590

I agree with Sheila on all points - but since you posted on Saturday I'm guessing you're over a barrel with this by now.

I'm going to assume for the sake of argument that it was only the Mtg or DOT that showed this "a/k/a" because if it was the entire package, well that's just ludicrous and completely pointless.

Sheila's correct that this name change should be taken care of properly (with a QCD or whatever deed your state uses), but often we still have to get the loan signed as-is. What I do in this situation (name changed since last record due to marriage/divorce) is use the "Who Took Title As" (W/T/T/A) quick-fix. The person only signs using their current/legal & proven name, and only their current/legal & proven name goes in my cert.

Also, this isn't a true a/k/a situation. A true a/k/a would be "Jon A. Smith, a/k/a Jonathon Smith". The "formerly known as" (f/k/a) could apply here, but as I said I personally use & prefer "w/t/t/a". I also don't do a thing without title's approval, of course - should go w/out saying.

When these rather sloppy 'quick fixes' are used - the front of the mtg will show the vesting as "Jane Current Name, w/t/t/a Jane's Old Name", and in a sense, the vesting verbiage after her current name is like a qualifying notation. The signature line would be "Jane Current Name" and my cert would show "Jane Current Name".

Also as Sheila points out - it's easy right now for this borrower to ASK title to draw up a deed to correct this name change on the record. It can also be done now, and recorded behind the mtg/DOT that she's signing now, and it will at least fix things for the future.