CT House Bill 6488

This bill allows execution of the deed in a real estate conveyance if the signer’s acknowledgment is made in conformance with the Uniform Acknowledgment Act (Chapter 6 of the Connecticut General Statutes) or the Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act (Chapter 8). It provides these alternatives to the requirement in current law that the signer acknowledge the execution of the deed to be his or her “free act and deed.” By expanding deed acknowledgment options, the bill reduces defective acknowledgments and conveyance imperfections which can be challenged for up to two years after the deed is recorded (CGS Section 47-36aa).

The Uniform Acknowledgment Act (UAA) permits an acknowledgment of any instrument to be made before: (1) A judge of a court of record or a family support magistrate; (2) a clerk or deputy clerk of a court having a seal; (3) a town clerk; (4) a Notary; (5) a justice of the peace; or (6) an attorney admitted to the bar in CT. It contains acknowledgment certificates for the following circumstances: (1) by an individual; (2) by a corporation acknowledging the signature through an officer of the corporation; (3) by an attorney in fact; (4) by a public officer, deputy, or trustee, administrator, guardian or executor; (5) by a limited liability company; and (6) by a registered limited liability partnership.

The Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act (URAA), adopted by the Uniform Law Commission in 1968, was intended to revise the Uniform Acknowledgment Act. The URAA contains acknowledgment certificates that are slightly shorter than the forms of the UAA.

Incidentally, Connecticut is one of a very few states that requires a deed conveying property to be acknowledged before a Notary or notarial officer and attested by two witnesses, as Connecticut Notary Signing Agents know well.

Read House Bill 648.