207 Ky. 837 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1925
¡Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
Tbe decisiou of the question presented by tbis appeal turns upon a construction of tbe following portion of section 1404, Kentucky Statutes, Carroll’s edition of 1922:
“But such relinquishment must be made within twelve months after tbe probate, and acknowledged before and left for record with the clerk of tbe court where probate was made, or acknowledged before a subscribing witness and proved before and left with tbe clerk.”
.The language quoted is a portion of tbe section of our statutes relating to a widow’s renunciation of tbe will of her husband, and as will be observed provides tbe mode by which and the time when that may be done. It appears that one J. A. Bennett died in Spencer county, Kentucky, after having published a last will and
The attempted renunciation of her husband’s will by Fannie Bennett was in writing and was ip apt language. It was acknowledged by her before a notary public of Spencer county and was then recorded in the office of the clerk of the Spencer county court. It is insisted for appellant that a writing, the terms of which aptly express the intention of a surviving widow to renounce the provisions of her husband’s will and her election to take under the law her dowable and distributable share of Ms estate, acknowledged before a notary public and recorded in the county court where probate of the will was had, is a compliance with the provisions of the statute quoted above and is effective for the purpose. Appellees insist and the chancellor held that since the statute in question does not authorize the renunciation of a will by a widow to be acknowledged before a notary public, such an acknowledgment is ineffective for the purpose. It was held that the statute on the question is mandatory ■and that a strict compliance with its terms is necessary to effect a widow’s renunciation of the will of her husband. The question does not seem to have been before this court heretofore.
Under the general topic “Acknowledgments,” Corpus Juris, vol. 1, page 794, we find the following general principle of law which seems to the court to be applicable ,to the particular facts of this case:
“Where a statute providing for the acknowledgment of any particular instrument designates the person or officer who may take such acknowledgment, it must be taken before such person or officer*839 and cannot properly be taken by an officer not among those specified, even though he may have authority to take acknowledgments of other instruments; but where the statute fails to specify any particular person or officer before whom the acknowledgment must be made it may be taken by one who has the general power to take acknowledgments. ’J
The cases cited as supporting the text above disclose a variety of circumstances akin to those of the case now before us although none of them is exactly similar. For instance, in New York it has been held that a certificate of incorporation can not be acknowledged before a commissioner of deeds who has authority to take acknowledgments of deeds where such officer is not one of those specified as authorized to take acknowledgments in the statute requiring certificates of incorporation to be acknowledged. First Baptist Society v. Rapalee, 16 Wend. (N. Y.) 605. In Ohio, where certificates of incorporation are required to be acknowledged before a justice of the peace, it has been held that the acknowledgment can not be taken by a notary. State v. Lee, 21 Oh. St. 662. In Illinois, by statute, it is provided that a chattel mortgage must be acknowledged before a county judge, justice of the peace or police magistrate of the town or district where the mortgagor resides. It has been held under that statute that an acknowledgment of such an instrument taken by a notary public is void. Long v. Cochran, 128 Ill. 29, 21 N. E. 201. In North Carolina, under a statute requiring a marriage settlement to be acknowledged before a judge of the supreme or superior court or in a court of record, it has been held that an acknowledgment of such an instrument taken by a county court clerk is a nullity. Justice v. Scott, 39 N. C. 108. Under a Minnesota statute, an agreement to submit to arbitration was required to be acknowledged before a justice of the peace, and in Barney v. Flower, 27 Minn. 403, 7 N. W. 823, it was held that an acknowledgment before any other officer was of no effect. In Missouri and Wyoming statutes requiring tax deeds to be acknowledged before a county court clerk are in force. Under those statutes it has been held in each of those states that the acknowledgment of a tax deed before a notary public is ineffective. Dunlap v. Henry, 76 Mo. 106; Matthews v. Blake, 16 Wyo. 116, 92 Pac. 242, 27 L. R. A. (N. S.) 339.
Hence, the judgment herein is affirmed.