In 2022, Maine passed its version of the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Certificates (RULONA). Upon the passage of this RULONA, Maine had two general notary statutes in effect (Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 4, Ch. 22 (Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act) and Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 4, Ch. 39 (RULONA)) each with their own model notary forms. After reviewing our documents, we are updating the Maine notary blocks to be consistent with the RULONA statute. These updates will be applied to both acknowledgements and jurats for consistency. Additionally, the RULONA statute authorizes remote online notarization (RON) and Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 4, § 1915(10)(B) provides a model form when RON is being used. Although we previously had a RON provision on our documents, we are now updating the language to match the model form.
The documents that we have updated are:
Cx19377 (FHA Mortgage)
Cx3060 (ME HELOC Mortgage)
Cx488 (ME Mortgage Second)
Cx10514 (Loan Modification Agreement – ARM)
Cx1701 (Loan Modification Agreement – Fixed)
Cx4888 (Loan Modification Agreement – ARM)
Cx10515 (Loan Modification Agreement – Fixed)
Cx15 (Occupancy Statement)
Cx22294 (HomeStyle Renovation Loan Rider)
Cx22295 (HomeStyle Renovation Loan Agreement)
Cx22651 (FNMA Construction Loan Agreement)
Cx22653 (FNMA construction Loan Rider to Security Instrument)
Cx43 (Manufactured Home Affixation Agreement)
Cx4 (Compliance Agreement)
Cx23607 (Community Land Trust Ground Lease Rider)
Cx6874 (Manufactured Home Limited Power of Attorney)
Cx7965 (Signature/Name Affidavit – NPE)
Cx865 (Signature/Name Affidavit)
Cx25298 (3020 ME Mortgage 2021)
These changes will be effective September 12, 2023. Please direct questions to Client Support at 800.497.3584.
DR-144852
UPDATE:
As announced above, our Maine notary blocks were updated to follow RULONA, one of Maine’s Notary statutes. We are making one further adjustment to Cx865 (Signature Name Affidavit). Instead of printing an acknowledgement we will be printing a jurat. A “jurat” is the general term when an oath or affirmation is used on a document.
4 ME ST §1917(3) provides the notary form for a jurat “signed and sworn to (or affirmed)” instead of “acknowledged before me” language. The language on Cx865 requires the borrower to “swear and affirm”. Because of this we are updating the notary to be a jurat text, filled out with the individual signer’s name:
Signed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me on ____________ by ____________.
These changes are available for testing and will take effect on September 28, 2023. If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please contact Client Support at 1.800.497.3584.
DR-145701