Minnesota Notaries?

I have a sellers closing later today and had a question on a notarial acknowledgment for a Minnesota warranty deed. The communication technology section, if it is not used do you line through it and initial it or do you leave it as is, as the completion of the in-person acknowledgment nullifies the technology option? I had asked Title how it has been handled in the past and they said to leave it as is and do not strike through it. Seems odd to me, but was wondering if anybody else had encountered this type of acknowledgment before.

takenotenotaryservices, are you in TN? And the property is in MN? Is the blurb about communication technology required by TN law?

Yes, I am in Tennessee and the signer is here as well, but the property in in Minnesota. I have never had an acknowledgment with a” communication technology” section and wasn’t sure what Minnesota notaries do with this section if it isn’t used. Title say not to strike through it but I wanted a notaries experience with this. In Tennessee acknowledgments are handled at the county level and they typically won’t answer questions like this. I am going to try though.

I think what Ashton is getting at is if you’re signing in TN (which we know you are) you follow your TN laws and your ack should be TN compliant. MN must accept it. And especially if this is a FTF (Face-to-Face) meeting/signing, that second part doesn’t apply.

JMO

I know not to sign the second part. The question is whether it needs to be lined through so as not to leave any blank areas. I have called the county clerk here, but they have not seen an acknowledgment like that and couldn’t give me any guidance. Seems to me they could say yes or no on lining through it, but they said they couldn’t. What she did say was line through it and see if they reject it. :unamused_face:

Why not just attach a TN compliant Acknowledgment?

@takenotenotaryservices no, your county clerk is not going to advise you on MN requirements and I disagree with her advice to you - you don’t submit something and just “see if they reject it”. Since it’s Warranty Deed (and even though title said don’t line through) if you’re worried about it, call the appropriate recorder’s office in MN and see if they will answer your question and accept the deed if that is or is not lined through. As I said, that wording doesn’t even apply in this situation so I don’t really see where this will be a problem.

Just a thought and hope you get this resolved to your satisfaction.

The acknowledgment is compliant, but if I did I would have to line through the original acknowledgment and write see attached.

One diagonal line through that ack with a note in caps “SEE ATTACHED TN COMPLIANT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT” - have had to do that many times. Many notaries have a stamp to that effect just for this scenario

I have called the deeds office in Minnesota but had to leave a voicemail. Hopefully someone will call be back before the signing or I will try again. I agree, her advice to file and see what happens was not helpful ,nor would that be my plan. I am just trying to do my due diligence and assure it is correct and legal. To be honest, Title doesn’t always know, notary laws, so following their instructions isn’t ideal in my opinion.

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The deeds office in Minnesota did return my call and it is practice to not strike through the communication technology section. New to me, but at least somebody answered my question.

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Yes, that’s the procedure (I also initial where I line through and write “see attached”). I do that quite often (for just about every state in the union) and there’s never been a problem with the recorder’s office rejecting because of that.

For instance, I’m in California. I had a signing yesterday for a property in Virginia. Each and every notarial certificate was non-compliant with California requirements. Our statutes state we can use the Acknowledgment for other states if they are compliant with that other state. I have neither the time nor the proclivity to check each state’s notary law. So, I use the California-compliant certs.

Other suggestion, you might try contacting the MN SOS, or whatever agency commissions MN notaries or look up that state’s notary handbook?

Minnesota Sec of State is much like ours in TN, they don’t answer questions about notarizations. They referred me to the county office. The deed office in Minnesota did return my call and said to not line through it.

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Alrighty then! Glad your query was resolved. :slight_smile:

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Haven’t seen this yet, but, lacking any direction from Title, I’d just put ‘N/A’ after day of
.simply to clarify that this section wasn’t ignored or overlooked. But, I’m not in MN,.

I am a MN notary. I ignore it. Doing the wet sign basically negates it. It is part of the acknowledgment and you can mark it up with NA if you wish. I just leave it alone.

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Thank you @roblinked5 - it was @takenotenotaryservices that was looking for clarification on this
hopefully he’ll see this.

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That is what I did. The recorder in the property records office in the county in Minnesota said that is how they do them, so I did also.

The example provided has an option to check the box and fill in the information. Since the box would not be checked on a wet signing, it might be safe to assume it does not apply and would not have to be completed.

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Leave tech line alone if its not rom