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Substantial Compliance with Statutory Forms and Requirements

Substantial compliance means compliance with the essential requirements of a statute or a contract which satisfies its purpose or objective although the formal requirements are not followed to the letter.  If the certificates of acknowledgment are in substantial compliance with the statutory requirements as to form and content, then the law will construe the same even if they lack any literal compliance.

The construction of certificates becomes liberal when the statute prescribes no form, or allows the use of a particular form without making it mandatory.  An acknowledgement is sufficient, if the omission of specific words are immaterial or if it can be supplied by a reasonable construction of the whole instrument.

If a mandatory statute is absent, a certificate of acknowledgement cannot be regarded as defective only because it is not identical to the prescribed statutory form.  The only necessity is that the acknowledgement certificate must substantially comply with such a form.[i]

The essential elements of certificates of acknowledgments will vary depending upon the jurisdiction and type of instrument that is acknowledged.[ii] Substantial compliance with any statute must appear from an inspection of the certificate.

In Agin v. Mortg. Elec. Registration Sys., Inc. (In re Giroux), 2009 Bankr. LEXIS 3429 (Bankr. D. Mass. May 21, 2009), it was observed that the “substantial compliance” test addresses the unintentional omission of words by the officer taking an acknowledgment and not the unintentional omission of the names of the acknowledging individuals.

[i] In re Akins, 87 S.W.3d 488 (Tenn. 2002)

[ii] Tenney Co. v. Thomas, 61 N.D. 202 (N.D. 1931)


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