2014 WV Laws HB 4012 was passed on March 6, 2014, with an effective date of July 1st of this year. The purpose of this bill was to revise state laws concerning notary publics, including the repeal of the Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act (W.Va. Code §§ 39-1A-1 through 39-1A-9) and the enactment of its substantial replacement, the new Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (Ibid. §§ 39-4-1 through 39-4-36).
The Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act provided model notary acknowledgment forms which we adopted for use in our West Virginia documents. The Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts also provides such types of model forms, which we will now be adopting and using to replace our current acknowledgment forms (see Ibid. 39-4-16). The body of the new acknowledgment forms which will be used in our documents are as follows:
For an acknowledgment in an individual capacity:
“This record was acknowledged before me on [date] by [name of signatories].”
For an acknowledgment in a representative capacity:
“This record was acknowledged before me on [date] by [name of signatories] as agent of [name of party on behalf of whom record was executed].”
Despite the effective date being July 1st, we will proceed to make this change effective June 12th, in order to push out other pending edits to these documents at the same time. The new model forms meet the current standards on the validity of a certificate of acknowledgment (since they contain the phrase “acknowledged before me”; see Ibid. § 39-1A-4[3]), thus this change may be made before the effective date of the new law. West Virginia documents affected by this change are:
- WV Deed of Trust (Cx359)
- WV Deed of Trust FHA (Cx412)
- WV Deed of Trust Second (Cx516)
- HELOC Mortgage – WV (Cx3045)
- WV Assignment of Deed of Trust (Cx1554)
- WV Assignment from MERS (Cx4354)
- WV Assignment – INV BLANK (Cx4505)
Multistate, standard documents affected by this change are:
- Compliance Agreement (Cx4)
- Occupancy Statement (Cx15)
- Manufactured Home Affixation Affidavit (Cx43)
- Signature/Name Affidavit (Cx865)
- Correction Agreement – Limited Power of Attorney (Cx870)
- Manufactured Home Limited Power of Attorney (Cx6874)
- Signature/Name Affidavit (NPE) (Cx7965)
- Occupancy Statement (Cx8909)
- Affixation Affidavit (Cx13232)
- Lender’s Statement of Intent (Cx14139)
This change will go into effect on June 12, 2014. If you have any questions or concerns about this change, please contact Client Support at 1.800.497.3584.
June 5, 2014
DR 152860