The Vermont Statutes Online
The Vermont Statutes Online have been updated to include the actions of the 2023 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Title 26 : Professions and Occupations
Chapter 103 : Notaries Public
Subchapter 004 : Notarial Acts
(Cite as: 26 V.S.A. § 5373)-
§ 5373. Validity of notarial acts
(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection 5372(b) of this chapter, the failure of a notary public to perform a duty or meet a requirement specified in this chapter shall not impair the marketability of title or invalidate a notarial act or a certification evidencing the notarial act.
(b) An acknowledgment that contains a notary commission expiration date that is either inaccurate or expired shall not invalidate the acknowledgment if it can be established that on the date the acknowledgment was taken, the notary public’s commission was active.
(c) The validity of a notarial act under this chapter shall not prevent an aggrieved person from seeking to invalidate the record or transaction that is the subject of the notarial act or from seeking other remedies based on law of this State other than this chapter or law of the United States.
(d) Defects in the written evidence of acknowledgment in a document in the public records may be cured by the notary public who performed the original notarial act. The notary public shall, under oath and before a different notary public, execute a writing correcting any defect. Upon recording, the corrective document corrects any deficiency and ratifies the original written evidence of acknowledgment as of the date the acknowledgment was originally taken.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a document that conveys an interest in real property shall be recordable in the land records and, if recorded, shall be sufficient for record notice to third parties, notwithstanding the failure of a notary public to perform any duty or meet any requirement specified in this chapter. Such failure includes the failure to comply in full or in part with the requirements of sections 5367-5369 of this title.
(f) This section does not validate a purported notarial act performed by an individual who does not have the authority to perform notarial acts. (Added 2017, No. 160 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. July 1, 2019.)
