§ 20

Deeds, mortgages, conveyances, releases, powers of attorney or other writings of or relating to the sale, conveyance or other disposition of real estate or any interest therein whereby the rights of any person may be affected, may be acknowledged or proven before some one of the following courts or officers, namely: 1. When acknowledged or proven within this State, before a notary public, United States commissioner, county clerk, or any court or any judge, clerk or deputy clerk of such court. When taken before a notary public or United States commissioner, the same shall be attested by his official seal; when taken before a court or the clerk thereof, or a deputy clerk thereof, the same shall be attested by the seal of such court. 2. When acknowledged or proved outside of this State and within the United States or any of its territories or dependencies or the District of Columbia, before a justice of the peace, notary public, master in chancery, United States commissioner, commissioner to take acknowledgments of deeds, mayor of city, clerk of a county, or before any judge, justice, clerk or deputy clerk of the supreme, circuit or district court of the United States, or before any judge, justice, clerk or deputy clerk, prothonotary, surrogate, or registrar of the supreme, circuit, superior, district, county, common pleas, probate, orphan's or surrogate's court of any of the states, territories or dependencies of the United States. In any dependency of the United States such acknowledgment or proof may also be taken or made before any commissioned officer in the military service of the United States. When such acknowledgment or proof is made before a notary public, United States commissioner or commissioner of deeds, it shall be certified under his seal of office. If taken before a mayor of a city it shall be certified under the seal of the city; if before a clerk, deputy clerk, prothonotary, registrar or surrogate, then under the seal of his court; if before a justice of the peace or a master in chancery there shall be added a certificate of the proper clerk under the seal of his office setting forth that the person before whom such proof or acknowledgment was made was a justice of the peace or master in chancery at the time of taking such acknowledgment or proof. As acknowledgment or proof of execution of any instrument above stated, may be made in conformity with the laws of the State, territory, dependency or district where it is made. If any clerk of any court of record within such state, territory, dependency or district shall, under his signature and the seal of such court, certify that such acknowledgment or proof was made in conformity with the laws of such state, territory, dependency or district, or it shall so appear by the laws of such state, territory, dependency or district such instrument or a duly proved or certified copy of the record of such deed, mortgage or other instrument relating to real estate heretofore or hereafter made and recorded in the proper county may be admitted in evidence as in other cases involving the admission of evidence of certified copies. 3. When acknowledged or proven outside of the United States before any court of any republic, dominion, state, kingdom, empire, colony, territory, or dependency having a seal, or before any judge, justice or clerk thereof or before any mayor or chief officer of any city or town having a seal, or before a notary public or commissioner of deeds, or any ambassador, minister or secretary of legation or consul of the United States or vice consul, deputy consul, commercial agent or consular agent of the United States in any foreign republic, dominion, state, kingdom, empire, colony, territory or dependency attested by his official seal or before any officer authorized by the laws of the place where such acknowledgment or proof is made to take acknowledgments of conveyances of real estate or to administer oaths in proof of the execution of conveyances of real estate. Such acknowledgments are to be attested by the official seal, if any, of such court or officer, and in case such acknowledgment or proof is taken or made before a court or officer having no official seal, a certificate shall be added by an ambassador, minister, secretary of legation, consul, vice consul, deputy consul, commercial agent or consular agent of the United States residing in such republic, dominion, state, kingdom, empire, colony, territory, or dependency under his official seal, showing that such court or officer was duly elected, appointed or created and acting at the time such acknowledgment or proof was made. 4. Any person serving in or with the armed forces of the United States, within or outside of the United States, and the spouse or former spouse of any such person, may acknowledge the instruments wherever located before any commissioned officer in active service of the armed forces of the United States with the rank of Second Lieutenant or higher in the Army, Air Force or Marine Corps, or Ensign or higher in the Navy or United States Coast Guard. The instrument shall not be rendered invalid by the failure to state therein the place of execution or acknowledgment. No authentication of the officer's certificate of acknowledgment shall be required and such certificate need not be attested by any seal but the officer taking the acknowledgment shall indorse thereon or attach thereto a certificate substantially in the following form: On (insert date), the undersigned officer, personally appeared before me, known to me (or satisfactorily proven) to be serving in or with the armed forces of the United States (and/or the spouse or former spouse of a person so serving) and to be the person whose name is subscribed to the instrument and acknowledged that .... he .... executed the same as .... free and voluntary act for the purposes therein contained, and the undersigned further certifies that he is at the date of this certificate a commissioned officer of the rank stated below and is in the active service of the armed forces of the United States. ............................... Signature of Officer ............................... Rank of Officer and Command to which attached. 5. All deeds or other instruments or copies of the record thereof duly certified or proven which have been acknowledged or proven prior to August 30, 1963, before either of the courts or officers mentioned in this Act and in the manner herein provided, shall be deemed to be good and effectual in law and the same may be introduced in evidence without further proof of their execution, with the same effect as if this amendatory Act of 1963 had been in force at the date of such acknowledgment or proof.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)