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Deed of Trust Quiz

Test your knowledge and skills by solving this Deed of Trust problem.

This is page 40 of the loan documents:

signature page - Deed of Trust

This is page 41:
______________________________________________

exhibit A - Deed of Trust

Problem:

Which page of the loan documents (and its contents) is missing, and how do you solve the problem?

The closing is today -- Saturday. There is no one at the title company.

You are on your own.

Good luck.

Posted by Leon Austin, Colorado Springs Mobile Notary on 03/15/2008 01:47 PM

Comments (9)

deed of trust

Originally posted at: Colorado Springs Notary - Leon Austin: Deed of Trust Quiz

9 Comments on Deed of Trust Quiz

MAR

2008

Hi Leon, Am I allowed to send an urgent email to the experts here on AR ?

You may, but it's preferable if you are able to solve the problem on your own.

It is not unusual to see an exhibit "A" (which is the legal description of the property in question: Lot #X of parcel map #X in the city of X in the county of X on map page #X, etc.) tucked elsewhere in the package. Finding it can be as simple as reviewing the escrow documents usually found in a separate email or at the top or bottom of the document set. Additionally, a Notary Acknowledgment form may be missing but would be carried by any experienced NSA conducting the closing.

Or were you looking for something else?

"A Quick Note"

I'm back from the closing, and everything went well.

Shannon, the page with 'Exhibit A' was simply included to show the order of the documents. Not that it necessarily had anything to do with the missing page. You didn't describe what you would do to solve the problem. Not that it requires a long essay.

To everyone else, there isn't a "right" or "wrong" answer. But it does involve several steps. At least there were 8 different things that I did, considering all of the circumstances. It involves a bit of notary procedure, a bit of notary law, and a bit of creativity.

I think we can all learn from the responses. I'll share my answer -- later. (Hint: There were things I did before, during, and after the closing.)

Good luck.

Notary Cert. missing. Add a loose Ack.

"Add a loose Ack."

Is there anything else that can be done?

_______________________________________________

(P.S. If the answer were that simple, I wouldn't have bothered to pose the question.)

MAR

2008

The notarial wording is missing. I know from experience that an "acknowledgment" form needs to be attached, but in this business, you should never assume anything. It would be giving legal advice which is a big no-no.

Prior to the signing, I usually go through the documents, and check the borrowers' names on the first and last page of the trust deed. When confirming appointment, I usually double check with the borrowers to make sure there names have not been misspelled.

In California, the notarial wording was changed effective 1/1/08 so I have also been checking the notarial language on acknowledgments and jurats to make sure it's correct. I would therefore have noticed the missing notarial certificate and would immediately try to reach someone at the signing/title company. Usually someone can be reached after hours. If I couldn't reach anyone, then I'd go thru the docs to see if I could find a lender's after-hours phone number. If that didn't work, I'd call the borrower to see if they had a cell number for the lender. Sometimes they do.

If absolutely no one could be reached, I might consider attaching both a jurat and acknowledgment (with the "optional" section completely filled out with details as to title of document, date, number of pages, loan number, etc.) I would also attach a post it note on the TD explaining that two forms were attached and the correct one should be inserted. Then I'd call the signing/title company first thing Monday morning when docs were received and bring it to their attention.

Now we're getting somewhere. Good response, Denise.

Those were some of the things I had in mind when I posed this question.

Adding a post it note is also something that I did.

notary classroom For any future responders, imagine that you are teaching a notary class, and this is one of the problems. Then think of all of the things that can possibly be done.

Take nothing for granted. Assume nothing.

Something else that I did which is basic notary procedure is to make a note of it in my notary journal:

But there is even more that can be done.

Good luck.

On the contrary, thank you Leon for posing the question. I have never come across this situation, but it's good to know ahead of time what can be done if ever in such a predicament. I too would have noted it in my journal which is exactly what the notary should always do when something like this arises, or whenever the notary has to attach a separate acknowledgment or jurat. I did not however think about having borrowers initial the post it note. Good idea :-)

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