§ 121.008.Short Forms for Certificates of Acknowledgment

The alternative certificates, and they are what most Texas documents carry.

The forms may be used as alternatives to other authorized forms and may be referred to as "statutory forms of acknowledgment".

Each is three lines of substance. "This instrument was acknowledged before me on (date) by (name)", followed by the officer’s signature, title, and commission expiry.

Six forms cover six capacities. A natural person acting in his own right; a natural person as principal acting by attorney-in-fact; a partnership acting by partners, an authorized officer, or an agent; a corporation; a public officer, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, or other representative; and a limited liability company.

The representative forms name both the signer and the entity, which is what makes the acknowledgment the entity’s act. The corporate form goes further and names the state of incorporation.

What the short forms leave out is the identity notation. The long form records whether the officer knew the signer or relied on a witness or document; these do not, and the identity section exempts them from the requirement.

The obligation to establish identity is untouched. Only the recording of it in the certificate is dispensed with — which is why an officer using a short form should still keep the record the chapter separately requires.

"My commission expires" appears in every form, because a notary’s authority is time-limited and an acknowledgment taken on an expired commission is taken by someone without office.