HRS § 502-95 - Validation of defective certificates

The record made prior to May 14, 1943, in the bureau of conveyances at Honolulu of any instrument otherwise authorized to be recorded therein, notwithstanding any defect in the form of the certificate of acknowledgment or proof, or the failure to make the notations required by section 502-61, or the failure to append thereto the certificate of authority required by section 502-46, or any defect in the form of the certificate, shall be in all respects as valid and effectual as though the certificate of acknowledgment or proof or certificate of authority had been in proper form or the certificate or authority had been appended to the instrument, or such notations had been made; provided that in any case of a defect in the certification of the authority of the officer to take the acknowledgment or proof, at the time of taking and in the place where the same was taken (whether because of a defect in the officer's certificate or because of a defect in or failure to append the certificate of the officer's authority, when required), the burden shall be on the party relying on such record to prove such authority, in any proceeding where such fact is in dispute; provided further that with respect to any interlineation, erasure, or other change, not initialed and noted as required by section 502-61, the burden shall be on the party relying on such record, to prove that the change was made before acknowledgment of the instrument, in any proceeding where such fact is asserted by such party and is in dispute. [L 1943, c 197, §6; RL 1945, §12762; RL 1955, §343-56; HRS ; gen ch 1985]