Albuquerque, NM asked in Foreclosure for New Mexico

Q: Notary agent absent during signing of both parties so is the documents even valid ot legal?

Deceased left his home through his Will with a reverse mortgage that ended up going thru a foreclosure sale just recently, what can I do to keep my home & change the title into my name?

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1 Lawyer Answer

A: The absence of a notary public’s signature does not necessarily invalidate a written instrument.

The purpose of having a notary public witness a party’s signature is to eliminate the necessity of further evidence proving who signed the instrument.

If the notary’s signature is absent or there is some other material defect in the notarization, you will need the testimony of someone familiar with the signature of the person who signed the instrument or other undisputed exemplars of that person’s signature for the trier of fact to compare the signature on the instrument to.

The instrument is only invalid if the trier of fact does not determine from a preponderance of the evidence that the instrument was signed or otherwise accepted by the person.

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