Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Quit claim deeds in San Joaquin County

Call FedEx. Send the deed over there. Have that person sign in front of a notary and return it to you. That should be sufficient.

Re: Quit claim deeds in San Joaquin County

A deed does not have to be notarized to be valid, but it must be notarized if you want it recorded. I can see that you are going to have problems getting a document notarized in Malaysia. There are some international process companies that can have a document notarized overseas that are valid in the United States. I would call around or check the internet.

Very truly yours,

Re: Quit claim deeds in San Joaquin County

The recorder's office will only only accept the notarized original deed for recording. If you do a Google search for "notary public malaysia", you will find a number of services in Malaysia that offer notary services that might be near the person who needs to sign the deed.

Re: Quit claim deeds in San Joaquin County

Technically, the requirement is that the signature on the deed be "acknowledged," and this is usually done by a notary public, hence the informal term "notarized."

Civil Code section 1183 lists officers who are authorized to acknowledge signatures on instruments signed outside the United States. The list includes the ambassador, consuls general, vice counsel, and consular agents of the United States, a judge of a court of record of the foreign country, or a notary public of the country in question. If by the latter, the notary's own signature must be accompanied by an "apostille" (a kind of certification) affixed to the document -- this in accordance with a Hague Convention (treaty) to which the U.S. is a party, simplifying formalization of legal documents in international commerce.

Malaysia, being a modern English-speaking place with an English (common law) tradition similar to that of the U.S., will be loaded with notaries that know how to do this in compliance with the Hague Convention. If in doubt, find a vice counsel at the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur who isn't too busy; they do a lot of this sort of thing.

Deeds must bear original signatures in order to be recorded, but an unrecorded deed is valid as between the parties thereto, and as to anyone with actual notice thereof.

when dealing with far eastern countries, remember not only does it take FedEx or other courier services a long time to get to and from there because of the long flight times, but also it's likely to be a different day of the week over there at any given moment! Also, it's largely Islamic, and will have different holidays and weekends than we're accustomed to.