Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey
My stepmother was appointed administer of my fathers estate. She had given my girlfriend a copy of the refunding bond and release form to get notarized. The signature which appears to be mine is in the wrong place (at the bottom corner of the page). Now I don't remember signing this form. If I had signed this form and it was taken to get notarized not by me but by my girlfriend and I was not present when the form was being notarized should this form be invalid?
I am pretty sure that there is no journal entry and if there is it does not contain my signature because I was not present when the form was notarized.
There are no witnesses signatures on the form or actually there are three blank lines on the form which were never crossed out.
What appears to be my signature is in the incorrect place not on any line but at the bottom corner where there is just blank page.
Where the notary was supposed to print her name she put mine and left blank where my name was supposed to go.
"before me the subscriber (my name was printed but it should had been the notary's name) personally appeared (should had been my name but she left blank) who I am satisified is / are the persons(s) named in and who executed the within instrument, and thereupon BLANK acknowledged that he signed sealed and delivered the same as BLANK act and deed, for the uses and purposes therein expressed"
Then she left two more spaces blank with no crossouts as can be seen above.
So my question is this. If I did happen to sign this document would it generally be considered to be invalid? The counties surrogate office accepted this document which I am not sure why. Also the whole form except the notary acknowledgment at the end of the form (which was filled out halfway by the notary ) was not filled out by me but by my stepmother who printed my name and address.
I (my name printed not by me) residing at (my address not printed by me).
I have also read that it is customary to sign the refunding bond and release form then await payment. Now since there was no attorney involved and she was the administrator payment should of came from her which I never received. Also she passed away last year.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Is there a problem with her handling of the property of your father? Do you know what your Father left, and did you get a copy of the Will? What are you supposed to get from your father's Estate?
Please give me a call to talk it over. The telephone discussion will be free of charge, and I will let you know what I believe I can do to assist you further. My contact information can be obtained from the links below, just click on the Attorney Profile link. Let my secretary know you found me through LawGuru.
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