Newbie here. I was wondering if a Deed in Lieu is a legal signing. I remember reading one of the forums about there being illegal signings and I cannot recall what they were. Also they stated fee was $65. Its local to me but dont wanna take low ball fees and ruin it for everyone.
Yes it’s legal - it’s a conveyance of the property back to the lender to avoid prolonged foreclosure and legal proceedings and a foreclosure ding on their credit report - which is probably trashed as it is from late payment/no payment history.
Just make sure to confirm whether or not witnesses are required in your state/by this hiring party and make sure signers can provide them.
Good luck
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And be sure you’ll be paid if it turns into a no-sign…
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Was it a title company order? If you are notarizing a document from a title company or a lender that is ok, but if an individual calls and asks you to notarize a document, be careful it could be a scam. Take a picture of their ID’s, log and fingerprint them in your Notary Journal, follow all notarial rules.
Also, regarding your fee payment, if you are notarizing only one page for $65, that is great! Being paid $65 dollars for one minutes worth of work is GRAVY!!
All payments to Notaries are not written in stone. You have the option to take or turndown any notary assignment that come to you. If you are worried about accepting a lowball fee, then this should not be the reason for being a notary. If it is, you have chosen the wrong profession.
Please Note: Texas prohibits recording biometric information; finger prints, DL numbers, ID numbers, Date of Birth, the serial number of any government issued ID, Photographing federal IDs, etc.
I’ve had outside of Texas Title Companies raise hell when I provided a copy of the Notary page for one of their transactions that did have biometric data recorded and was in dispute or headed to court.
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Doesn’t the lack of particulars make it difficult? And when they issue a check, Banks need ID copy to comply with Patriot Act. ??? Seems that TX makes it difficult to prove you were even there!
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The prohibition pertains only to Notarial activities. The US Patriot Act is a federal form that’s not Notarized or recorded in the Notary journal. Capturing a photo of their ID and recording biometric data on the USPA doesn’t violate Texas law.
Texas requires recording the signer’s name, mailing address, and Notarial activities. While Texas does not require a signature in the Notary’s journal, I have the signer’s enter their name, address, and signature in the journal. This way I’ve captured a handwriting sample and signature. This is the proof that I was there.
Texas doesn’t have a standard format for the Notary journal. Notaries are allowed to create their own, as long as every element required is captured. There’s no requirement for the signer to touch our journals, we can keep a journal that we hand record each activity. We can keep an electronic record as well.
We can place our signature as a stamp or we can apply our signature as an electronic image. This is also the case with our seal. There’s no requirement the seal must be a wet ink seal. I’ve captured a scanned copy of my seal, stored as an image that is applied via Adobe. Not one complaint in almost 3 years. Since a Notarization requires both the seal/stamp and signature of the Notary to be valid, I place my signature wet, in blue ink, when the signer has signed their name. What this has done is allow me to preprocess/prepopulate the N Cert prior to the engagement, speeding up the process.
As far as making things difficult, it actually makes things easier. Texas Notaries can’t be accused of fraud without evidence, and by State Law, that evidence part of the record. Without a fingerprint or other biometric elements is does increase the risk of fraud.
I’m in the process of scanning all of my journals into an electronic format and will be destroying the paper copies. Texas Notaries are, "required to keep, in a safe and secure manner, copies of the records of notarizations performed for the longer of: 1) the term of the commission in which the notarization occurred; or 2) three years following the date of notarization . 1 TAC §87.54.
Keep in mind there are historical practices and notary traditions that some have elevated to legal requirements. This is the difference between traditions, best practices, and legal standards.
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Thanks…interesting info.
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