On February 18, 2021, Indiana House Bill 1056 (HB 1056) was signed into law by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. The new bill ends the requirement that both a notary acknowledgment and a proof be included on recordable documents.
HB 1056 updates Section 32-21-2-3(a) which was previously changed on July 1, 2020, to require a notary acknowledgement and be proved before one of the listed individuals, which in practice was accomplished by the notarized signature of a witness. This seemed to be an unintended consequence which the legislature set out to correct in its next session.
Effective immediately upon the passage of the bill, Section 32-21-2-3 now requires:
(a). Any instrument to be recorded must have one (1) of the following notarial acts:
- An acknowledgment (as defined in IC 33-42-0.5-2).
- A proof.
The new bill also adds Section 32-21-2-1.5 which defines “instrument” and Section 32-21-2-1.7 which defines “proof.”
DocMagic will be removing the witness affidavit from Indiana recordable instruments so that only a notary acknowledgment is provided. This update will be available beginning on March 1, 2021.
If you have any questions, please contact DocMagic’s Compliance Department.
