Responsibilities of the Preparer or Reviewer of a Document to Be Recorded
All documents are required to be acknowledged or notarized with only a few exceptions. Notary should include notary seal, all signatures, expiration date and county of residence. Effective July 1, 2018 notaries public commissioned or recommissioned after July 1, 2018 must update their seal to include the following: 1.) the words "notary public"; 2.) the words "State of Indiana"; 3.) the word "seal"; 4.) the name of the notary public exactly as it appears on the notary public's commission certificate; 5.) the words "Commission number" followed by the commission number of the notary public.; 6.) the words "my commission expires" followed by the expiration date of the notary public.
Documents acknowledged or notarized out of state do not require a person's name in the Prepared by Statement.
Documents acknowledged or notarized out of state do not require the Social Security redaction statement. Even though they do not require the statement, they still cannot be presented for recording if they contain a Social Security number unless the number is required to be on the document by federal law (i.e. Federal Tax Lien documents, Soldier Discharge documents, Death Certificates).
This means that all deeds, mortgages, assignments and releases, miscellaneous and over-sized documents that are executed or acknowledged in Indiana, unless specifically exempted, must have the Affirmation statement on them, in addition to the prepared statement and name at the conclusion of the document.
Any document that must by statute have a prepared statement must also have the affirmation statement listed in IC 36-2-11-15(d). Typed exactly as quoted in the statute,"I affirm, under the penalties for perjury, that I have taken reasonable care to redact each Social Security Number in this document, unless required by law (name)."
The exceptions to this requirement are federal tax lien documents, judgments, orders and writs of the court, wills, death certificates, Uniform Commercial Code documents and any instruments executed before July 1, 1959 and documents prepared or acknowledged outside the state of Indiana. The name can be typed, printed or can be a signature.
Anyone who submits a document with the affirmation statement and without redacting a Social Security Number commits perjury.
If a document involves real estate, a legal description may be required. If a document involves personal property, a list of that personal property and its location may be required.
Documents are returned to the entity who presented the documents for recording after they have been through the archival process. (IC 36-2-11-7)