§35-4-26. Acknowledgment - Officers authorized to take outside Alabama; validity; certification.

(a) Acknowledgments, proofs of conveyances, and affidavits may be taken within the United States and beyond the State of Alabama, by judges and clerks of any federal court, judges and clerks of any state court of record in any state, notaries public, commissioners appointed by the Governor of this state, the commissioner of deeds for the state wherein the acknowledgment is taken, or by any commissioned officer of any of the Armed Forces of the United States. Beyond the limits of the United States, the acknowledgments, proofs, and affidavits may be taken by the judges of any court of record, mayor or chief magistrate of any city, town, borough, or county, by any diplomatic, consular, or commercial agent of the United States, notaries public, or by any commissioned officer of any of the Armed Forces of the United States.

(b) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter, the acknowledgment of any instrument executed outside the State of Alabama which is in compliance with the manner and form prescribed by the laws of the place of its execution, is executed in a state, territory, or insular possession of the United States or the District of Columbia, and is verified by the official seal of the officer before whom it is acknowledged, shall have the same effect as an acknowledgment in the manner and form prescribed by the laws of this state for instruments executed within the state.

(c) All deeds, conveyances, deeds of trust, mortgages, mineral leases, marriage contracts, and other instruments in writing, affecting or purporting to affect title to any real estate or personal property situated in this state, which have been recorded or executed prior to August 1, 2004, and which may be defective or ineffectual because of the failure to have the form of acknowledgment as required by Section 35-4-29, shall be binding and effectual as though the instruments contained the required form of acknowledgment.

(d) In addition to the acknowledgment of instruments in the manner and form provided by this chapter, persons serving in or with the Armed Forces of the United States or their dependents may acknowledge the same wherever located before any commissioned officer of any of the Armed Forces of the United States. The instrument may not be rendered invalid by the failure to state therein the place of execution or acknowledgment, but shall include the state in which the acknowledgment occurred. No authentication of the certificate of acknowledgment of the officer shall be required, but the officer taking the acknowledgment shall endorse thereon or attach thereto a certificate substantially in the following form:

"On this ____ day of _________, _____, before me, ______________, the undersigned officer, personally appeared ___________ (Serial No. _________ ) known to me or satisfactorily proven to be (serving in or with the Armed Forces of the United States) (a dependent of ________________, Serial No. _________, a person serving in or with the Armed Forces of the United States) and to be the person whose name is subscribed to the within instrument, and acknowledgment before me on this day that, being informed of the contents of this instrument, he or she executed the same voluntarily on the day the same bears date. The undersigned does further certify that he or she is at the date of this certificate a commissioned officer of the rank stated below and is in the active service of the Armed Forces of the United States.

"______________

"Signature of Officer

"______________

"Rank and Serial No. of Officer and Command to which attached."

(Code 1852, §1277; Code 1867, §1546; Code 1876, §2156; Code 1886, §1800; Code 1896, §994; Code 1907, §3359; Code 1923, §6842; Code 1940, T. 47, §27; Acts 1943, No. 240, p. 195; Acts 1947, No. 47, p. 15; Act 2004-555, p. 1194, §1.)