A husband in a community property state takes out a mortgage on a home. He will pay the loan entirely from his income and hold title in only his name.
Can his wife, a notary, notarize his loan documents?
The California Secretary of State's office got this wrong. Had to explain it to them. (Answer at end of today's post.)
Sitting in a car not enough
New York law apparently requires an independent candidate to collect qualification signatures in the presence of a notary. One candidate got people to sign the petition with the notary sitting in the car, within sight and earshot.
The court found this fell short of the notary's placing the voters under oath. The candidate therefore failed to get enough signatures to appear on the ballot.
Answer:
His income is community property--owned by both of them. So the notary wife has part ownership of the asset (house) even though her name is not on title. If their state allowed the couple to opt out of community property, his name alone on title probably would not be enough to do so since there is no evidence she waived her rights.
Because she is benefiting from the transaction, she cannot notarize the documents. (The answer would be different if her state allows her to notarize documents for transactions which involve herself. I am unaware of a state that does.)
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