Document Updates: All Indiana Real Property Recordable Documents

Earlier this year, Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signed into law S.B. 340 (2020), which made a subtle amendment to Ind. Code Ann. § 32-21-2-3(a)(1), effectively requiring that “conveyance, a mortgage, or in instrument in writing to be recorded must be” both acknowledged by the grantor and proved before certain persons (e.g., a notary public). Previous to this amendment, an instrument could be recorded if it is either acknowledged or proved.

Under Ibid. § 32-21-2-6, “a deed may be proved according to the rules of common law before any officer who is authorized to take acknowledgments.” Under the common law, a single witness can be considered sufficient for proving a legal document (e.g., see The Upton v. Bernstein, 27 N.Y.S. 1078, 1079 [Gen. Term 1894]).

To comply with this new requirement, we will be adding the following to the documents listed below:

• The caption “WITNESS to the above signature(s):”, followed by a witness signature line and the printed name of the witness (“Witness 1 Full Name” {FI 15416}), will appear directly below the borrower signature lines on most documents.

• Because it must be proved before an officer who is authorized to take acknowledgments, we will be adding an additional notarial acknowledgment for the witness. This will be in addition to the notarial acknowledgment for the borrower and will print directly below such acknowledgment. The substance of the new acknowledgment will be as follows:

“Before me, a Notary Public in and for said County and State, on [Security Instrument Date {FI 1819}], personally appeared the above named WITNESS to the foregoing instrument, who, being duly sworn by me, did depose and say that he/she knows [Security Instrument Names and Capacities {FI 1816}] to be the individual(s) described herein and who executed the foregoing instrument; that said WITNESS was present and saw said  [Security Instrument Names and Capacities {FI 1816}] execute the same; and that said WITNESS at the same time subscribed his/her name as a witness thereto.”

• An additional clause concerning audio-visual communication will be added to the above acknowledgment when “Security Instrument Notary Type of Presence” (FI 137249) equals “Online Presence – Remote Online Notarization (RON)”.

The Indiana and multi-state recordable documents that are being modified are:

• Manufactured Home Affixation Affidavit (Cx43)
• IN Mortgage (Cx324)
• IN Mortgage Second (Cx482)
• HELOC Mortgage – IN (Cx1381)
• IN Assignment of Mortgage (Cx1524)
• Loan Modification Agreement – Fixed (Cx1701)
• IN Assignment from MERS (Cx4320)
• IN Assignment – INV BLANK (Cx4463)
• Loan Modification Agreement – ARM (Cx4888)
• Manufactured Home Limited Power of Attorney (Cx6874)
• Loan Modification Agreement – ARM (Cx10514)
• Loan Modification Agreement – Fixed (Cx10515)
• FHA IN Mortgage (Cx19372)
• HomeStyle Renovation Loan Rider (Cx22294)
• FNMA Construction Loan Rider to Security Instrument (Cx22653)
• Community Land Trust Ground Lease Rider (Cx23607)

Because IN SB 340 (2020) takes effect on July 1, 2020 we will be pushing these changes to Production immediately. Questions or concerns about these changes may be submitted to Client Support at 1.800.497.3584.

Update: For clarity and consistency, we are adding “Notary Public” and “My Commission Expires” under the notary signature line.

The changes for this update will take effect on July 22, 2020. Questions or concerns about these changes should be directed to Client Support at 1.800.496.3584.

DR 321063 & DR 323160