W. Va. Code § 39-1-5

This is the official text of W. Va. Code § 39-1-5, part of West Virginia’s Va. Code — part of the compiled statutory law of West Virginia, published by the state as "Va. Code." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§39-1-5. Acknowledgment by husband and wife.

Official statutory text

When a husband and wife have signed a writing purporting to sell or convey real estate, the wife may acknowledge the same together with, or separately from her husband. Either the husband or the wife may sign and acknowledge the writing before the other has signed or acknowledged it. If both acknowledge the writing at the same time, the certificate of the acknowledgments may be in form or effect as follows:

State (territory or district) of .......... county of ...................., to wit:

I, .................., a notary public of the said county of ...................; or I, .........., clerk of the ......... court or county of ........; (or other officer or person authorized to take acknowledgments by section three of this article, as the case may be),* do certify .......... and .........., his or her wife whose names are signed to the writing above (or hereto annexed) bearing date the ..... day of .........., 20....., have this day acknowledged the same before me in my said ...........

Given under my hand this ......... day of ........., 20.......

If the husband or wife acknowledge a deed or other writing separately from the other, the certificate of acknowledgment after the star in the foregoing form shall be in form or effect as follows: do certify that .........., the wife of .........., (or the husband of .........., as the case may be), whose name is signed to the writing above (or hereto annexed) bearing date the .......... day of .........., 20 ....., has this day acknowledged the same before me in my said ..........

Given under my hand this .......... day of .........., 20 .....

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.