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Glossary of Notary Public, Mortgage, Signing Agent, and Loan Signing Terms.

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Acknowledgment

Phonetics: Ac·knowl·edg·ment   \ik-'nä-lij-mənt

Function: noun

The correct spelling of this term isacknowledgment where there is no extra "e" after the "g". Statistically, three times as many people look this term up with the additional "e". There should not be an e after the g. The main point of an acknowledged signature is for the signer of the document to be positively identified by a notary public commissioned by the state they are signing in. If the notarization takes place in Rhode Island, the notary public must have a Rhode Island notary commission for example. Notaries must check the signer's identification which is generally a government issued photo identification document with a physical description, a signature, and a serial number. The identification should have an expiration date too. Most states allow a notary to identify a signer by using one or two credible identifying witnesses who know the signer by name as well. Please visit the terms "identification of signer" and "credible witness" in our glossary for more information.

Please visit our blog articles about Acknowledgments

Definition 1:
A Notarial certificate that is affixed to a notarized document. This acknowledgment certificate is a single form. The form includes information about who the signer is, their capacity (if they have one), the date the document was acknowledged before a notary public, the county where the document was notarized, some boiler plate wording, as well as the signature and seal of the notary public.

Definition 2:
A notary act in which the signer acknowledges to the notary that they signed a specific document in the past. In such a notary act, the signer must appear before the notary and sign the notary's journal, but can sign the document before appearing before the notary. A common misspelling of this word contains an additional "e" in the middle of the word.

Definition 3:
The act of admitting or recognizing the existence of an agreement by signing as evidence of a person's intention that the agreement shall be binding and in full force and effect.