This is one important reason all the law firms I work with, including my own, include specific written instructions for documents execution, particularly those that will be recorded on the CT land records. And we ask the same of any law firm or business sending us documents that will be recorded out of CT. It isn't a matter of "changing" the notarization block used in that state or CT, it is a matter of, "what specifically does your state require that we may add to our notarization block?" For example, if you want blue signatures and black "fill in the blanks" typed or hand printed text, easy. CT, like MA, requires "free act and deed" within its acknowledgment block.
As to the case law, the notarization issue doesn't make the national news, many of the cases are settled out of court (E&O pays out as it is cheaper for the E&O carrier to settle than fight regardless of right). I've read cases of real estate contracts and deeds declared void because the NOTARIZATION block was the only way the unhappy party could get out of the deal. Think of it as an "when all else fails" loophole. Stated I did not want to scare anyone - facts in the legal world are scary, which keeps everyone on their toes and two-three-party review of documents; if reviewer #1 misses something, hope is reviewer #2 or #3 will catch it .... before it sits on a shelf and ripens. As VT Syrup said, the most common is residential foreclosures, knock the owed-big-bucks lender out of the "secured party" FIRST in line and there is more money to divide among all the "unsecured" little people in line, like notaries who are owed money as part of a bankruptcy. Don't have the cases in front of me, the two I remember the most: The biggest was California, $600k+ (no appearance of the notary boss' wife, who was a friend of the notary UNTIL she discovered her soon-to-be ex husband sold the condo and the "friend" notary had notarized her signature, which was a common and usual practice for the "friend" wife to ask the notary to do) and the mid-west State Supreme Court precedent setting case that hasn't been over ruled (on the other side of an open door isn't personal appearance). |
