Court Opinion

ID: 9547518
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:48:22.37545+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:17:49.783662
License: Public Domain

DONALDSON, Chief Justice.
Benjamin Franklin Savings & Loan filed a complaint in bankruptcy court seeking to foreclose a deed of trust on debtor’s real property. The deed of trust had been executed by debtor’s predecessors in interest, in favor of Benjamin Franklin’s predecessor in interest. It was recorded in the Bonneville County Recorder’s Office on September 19, 1979, as Instrument No. 572664. The Trustee’s answer alleged that the deed of trust was void because the certificate of acknowledgment did not substantially comply with the requirements of I.C. § 55-710.1 Specifically, the Trustee argued that the certificate did not adequately demonstrate that the notary knew the identities of the persons who appeared before him.
The Certificate of Acknowledgment read as follows:
"STATE OF IDAHO I
County of Bonneville J ss. September 19, 1979
“Personally appeared the above named W. DUANE CROOK. WENDY M. CROOK. PAUL S. YELA & JUDY L. YELA and acknowledged the foregoing instrument to be their voluntary act and deed. Before me the undersigned.
“/s/ STANLEY E. GAGNON “Notary Public for Idaho “My commission expires: Life”
Debtor’s Trustee and Benjamin Franklin filed cross-motions for summary judgment on the issue of the validity of the deed of trust. Benjamin Franklin accompanied its motion with an affidavit from Stanley E. Gagnon, the notary who executed the acknowledgment, averring that the persons who had executed the deed had personally appeared before him on September 19, 1979, and that each of them had been personally known to him.
The bankruptcy court granted the Trustee’s motion for summary judgment holding that the certificate of acknowledgment was insufficient as a matter of law. The United States District Court affirmed.
Benjamin Franklin appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Ninth Circuit determined that the case turned on an issue of Idaho law for which there was no controlling Idaho precedent and certified a question of law to this Court.
The question for our determination is whether the acknowledgment and recording of the deed of trust was sufficient to impart constructive notice to the Trustee.
In taking an acknowledgment a notary properly discharges his duty only when the persons executing the acknowledgment personally appear before him, and when the notary personally knows, or has proven to him, that those individuals are the same individuals who are described in, and who executed, the instrument. I.C. § 55-707; Farm Bureau Fin. Co., Inc. v. Carney, 100 Idaho 745, 750, 605 P.2d 509, 514 (1980). In Idaho, as in most states, there exists a presumption of regularity as to the official acts performed by public officers. Farm Bureau, supra at 750, 605 P.2d at 514. A notary public is a bonded public officer appointed by the Governor. I.C. § 51-101. Notaries are empowered to take acknowledgments and to give certificates of proof thereof. I.C. § 51-104(2). Thus, we begin with a presumption that the deed of trust was validly acknowledged.
*713The record in this case supports this presumption. The certificate states that the grantors personally appeared before the notary and acknowledged their execution of the deed of trust. The notary’s affidavit establishes that he knew the signors to be the people who executed the deed. While it is true that the certificate does not contain the words “known or identified to me (or proved to me on the oath of _), to be person whose name is subscribed to the within instrument,” I.C. § 55-710, strict compliance with the statutory form is not required. I.C. §§ 55-709, -710. The statute provides, and our previous cases have held that substantial compliance with the statutory requirements is sufficient. Farm Bureau, supra at 749, 605 P.2d at 513; Pacific Coast Joint Stock Land Bank v. Security Prods. Co., 56 Idaho 436, 55 P.2d 716 (1936); Curtis v. Bunnell & Eno Inv. Co., 6 Idaho 298, 55 P. 659 (1898); Northwestern & Pacific Hypotheek Bank v. Rauch, 5 Idaho 752, 51 P. 764 (1898). The general view is in accord. See Annot., 25 A.L.R.2d 1124 (1952), and cases cited therein. As we stated in Farm Bureau:
“We believe that the manifest intent of the legislature in requiring a notary public to execute a certificate of acknowledgment is to provide protection against the recording of false instruments. The sine qua non of this statutory requirement is the involvement of the notary, a public officer in a position of public trust. If the notary faithfully carries out his statutory duties, it makes little difference whether he remembers to fill in the blanks in the certificate. Similarly, if the notary conspires with a forger, or fails to require the personal appearance of the acknowledger, or is negligent in ascertaining the identity of the acknowledger, the statutory scheme is frustrated whether the form is completely filled in or not.”
The record in this case discloses that the notary did in fact know that the persons who executed the certificate of acknowledgment were the same persons who executed the written instrument. For us to hold that the acknowledgment was ineffective to impart constructive notice of the deed of trust would be to exalt form over substance. This we decline to do. We hold that under Idaho law the acknowledgment was sufficient to impart constructive notice to the Trustee.
SHEPARD, BAKES, BISTLINE and HUNTLEY, JJ., concur.

. “55-710. Form of certificate. — The certificate of acknowledgment, unless it is otherwise in this chapter provided, must be substantially in the following form:
"State of Idaho, county of -, ss. On this_day of_, in the year of _, before me (here insert the name and quality of the officer), personally appeared _, known or identified to me (or proved to me on the oath of_), to be the person whose name is subscribed to the within instrument, and acknowledged to me that he (or they) executed the same.”