Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Re: Mortgage Notes and alterations

I assume you're realizing the fact that a two page document printed on only one sheet (back and front) and signed is harder to modify with "page substitution" than is a multiple page document, thus it is more likely to be subject to legal attack. ("I did sign that second sheet of paper but the first sheet of paper that was with it at the time had entirely different terms on it; this isn't what I was signing.")

You're right! In practice, it is a very rare claim (and by the way, it arises in every multipage contract and even more often in the probate of wills, where there's one less witness around to testify, i.e., the testator is dead).

Here are some of the things that can help prevent such a claim:

A) Simply get it back onto a single sheet! You can i) use a copier to copy the second sheet onto the back of the first and/or vice versa or ii) you can let the printer run out of paper when the first page is printed and then insert that same sheet back into your printer to print the second page on the back. Right?

B) If you can modify the text at all, put a space for a signature line on EACH page and have each one time-stamped to the second (and hundredths of seconds) as well.

C) Use a slightly flawed (nicked) laser cartridge; if done right, you'll have, more or less, a unique output from your printer.

D) Use some unusual (and preferably watermarked) paper for the document.

E) Create your own printable watermark and add that to the relevant pages.

F) Use a notary stamp or a seal of some sort that presses through the paper, in addition to the readable / copiable notary stamp.

G) Invisible ink! You make marks with invisible ink (which can be made or bought, e.g., in a child's spy case toy) and have the signer do so also, probably his signature on the margins; if you do so, you may add a line somewhere that the obligee signs saying that there are such hidden marks and telling how to develop them to be visible. Which makes me think that this is a bit "spy v. spy" and that going that far may feel a little childish when you're doing it!

H) Keep a log book of mortgage notes signed (and maybe annotate each with a list of all the security measures you've taken). Possibly put a reference to that log, e.g., a log entry date and number and who possesses the log into the document or as an attachment which you also record.

Z) Any or all of the above in any combination ... but again keep or make notes on what you've done so that some future noteholder can defend a claim of forgery or page substitution by the obligee.

Did I come even close to answering your concerns?

Please write to me directly at [email protected] and let me know. (I spent 20+ minutes writing this; perhaps you could spend a couple minutes letting me know if I even hit the target.)