Lease not valid unless a notary is present?

Does anyone know about the lawsuit in Trumbull county about a Notary not being present with Chesapeake when signing a lease.

 

See the below article in the Farm and Diary.

 

http://www.farmanddairy.com/news/trumbull-county-lawsuit-notary-pre...

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Permalink Reply by evan on December 17, 2014 at 7:16am
That isn't true. A notary doesn't have to be present. I tried the same thing to get out but it won't work.
Permalink Reply by Dexter Green on December 17, 2014 at 9:41am

This likely gets overturned in the appeals process.  

Permalink Reply by Olive Sue on December 17, 2014 at 10:34am

This will not work.  Beck Energy did not have on site notaries and is perfectly ok.  I have yet to figure out the value of being required to have papers notarized if there is nothing wrong with the notary not seeing the signature. 

Permalink Reply by Jonathan H on December 17, 2014 at 11:43am

I looked into this issue for neighbor; under Ohio law, a defect in execution of a contract does not nullify the contract - in my neighbor's case, on the lease the notary says it was signed in their presence, but they never saw or met the notary.

Permalink Reply by Mike Fulper on December 17, 2014 at 12:05pm

In every state ... a Notary is only required to... BE SURE... YOU KNOW.... What your signing..

Not that they have to Witness the signature.. but When the Notary is there... THE NOTORY

is required by law .. to know what your signing...

Over a period of time... The Notary requirement has been relaxed....

BUT... if a document says... "Must be witnessed by a Notary"

THEN it Must be witnessed  by a Notary...

BUT.... someone.. HAS   .. to witness the Signature.....PERIOD...!!

AND.... that person would ALSO have to sign as a witness...

Otherwise.. NOT a legal document....

I once.. was a Notary.....

Permalink Reply by evan on December 17, 2014 at 1:13pm

Even that won't hold up in court.  Seen it happen quite a few times the last 2 years. A notary not present will NOT

GET

A

LEASE

 VOIDED

.

0ym9x5ag7ury2Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on December 17, 2014 at 2:27pm

Ohio Revised Code -  A Notary is Required unless one of the other listed entities are present as witness. See Bold portion. If a document is signed but fails to follow the requirements of Ohio Law, the document is not lawful and therefore is not valid in a court of law.

Chapter 5301: CONVEYANCES; ENCUMBRANCES

5301.01 Acknowledgment of deed, mortgage, land contract, lease or m...

(A) A deed, mortgage, land contract as referred to in division (A) (21) of section 317.08 of the Revised Code, or lease of any interest in real property and a memorandum of trust as described in division (A) of section 5301.255 of the Revised Code shall be signed by the grantor, mortgagor, vendor, or lessor in the case of a deed, mortgage, land contract, or lease or shall be signed by the trustee in the case of a memorandum of trust. The signing shall be acknowledged by the grantor, mortgagor, vendor, or lessor, or by the trustee, before a judge or clerk of a court of record in this state, or a county auditor, county engineer, notary public, or mayor, who shall certify the acknowledgement and subscribe the official's name to the certificate of the acknowledgement.

0ym9x5ag7ury2Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on December 17, 2014 at 2:37pm

The results of not having a Notary Present appears in the above story. I would think PA and WV would have the same requirement.  There is no debate required on this topic if you live in Ohio:

Court case

The court ruled the leases did not follow the requirements of the Ohio Revised Code because of the lack of a notary.
Judge Ronald Rice also ruled that the leases at issue were for an initial five-year term.

Rice ruled the initial leases were also null and void because they did not meet the Ohio Revised Code. The leases ended after the first five-year period for each respective lease and were therefore terminated.

Permalink Reply by Jim Litwinowicz on December 17, 2014 at 3:27pm

The purpose of a notary is to certify that the person(s) signing said documents is indeed the person they claim to be, ie verify their identity. They are also to be sure that the signators are of sound mind, understand what they are signing, and do so with free will.

It has nothing to do with the contents of the contract/agreement/document and/or its content or legality.

All it really means when notarized is that       Yep, you signed it.

Permalink Reply by Dexter Green on December 17, 2014 at 5:37pm

Correct.  If a plaintiff argues the lease is void because the notary wasn't present then the judge is going to look at them and say "Did you sign this?  You did?  Ok, case closed."

It's more interesting that the ruling vacated the lease extension.  I'd love to read the reasoning behind it and see the language of the clause that was in the original lease.

Permalink Reply by Tim Tarr on December 17, 2014 at 9:39pm
Never met landman that wasn't notary. Perhaps in another state but still.
0ym9x5ag7ury2Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on December 18, 2014 at 6:25am

Regardless of all this talk, if you didn't have a Notary Present to witness the signing, the lease will not hold up in court.

If the Notary signed and back dated, you can have them De-Notorized, as has been done in several cases.

Good Luck

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