3-4/2005 UINL - Notarius International

202 J. A. Márquez González, National Report Mexico Notarius International 3-4/2005
- Proof of facts and accreditation of rights;
- Accreditation of residence, good conduct or financial
dependence;
- Verification of possession of a real right;
- Voluntary change of name;
- Voluntary procedure for survey and demarcation;
- Voluntary creation and cancellation of family property;
- Voluntary liquidation of property held jointly by spouses;
- Voluntary creation and amendment of marriage contracts;
- Testate or intestate succession, and
- Unanimous waiver and appointment of executor (article
699-A of the Code of Civil Procedure of Veracruz).
1.6. Procedure for execution
1.6.1. Execution
Articles 100-142 of the Notary Law describe in detail
the procedure for notarial execution. Thus, deeds must be
issued on indelible media with no abbreviations, except
in the case of transcripts. No numbers must be written unless
they are also stated in words and unused space must
be crossed through. Corrections may be made using the
method of writing between the lines, indicating the incorrect
expression by means of a line, but in any case finally
saving what is corrected. Changes and crossings out
are strictly prohibited.
The notary must draft deeds in Spanish, although in
exceptional circumstances he may enter words in another
language. He must state the place and the date, the full
names of the appearers and the legal name of the act. He
must also carefully record the antecedents, listing the respective
titles of ownership, as appropriate, the registration
particulars and the necessary administrative and tax
documents. Likewise, he must describe the property or
subject-matter of the business, as appropriate, in detail,
list the powers or authorities for representation, draft in
order the clauses agreed by the signatories and any waivers
of rights. He must attach any documents that he
deems important to the appendix and he must certify and
attest that he knows the signatories (stating their general
particulars), that he has assured himself of their identity,
that he read the deed out to them and that he explained
its legal scope to them. He must also certify the facts
placed before him. He must do all this in clear, concise,
precise legal language, with no obsolete or antiquated
words or formulae. At the end of the deed, the notary
must obtain the signatures or marks of the signatories and
appearers and witness the deed with his signature, his
stamp and the expression “Ante mí” (Before me).
1.6.2. Open or closed record
When a document has been drafted, it is issued on folios
or in books authorised by the local government, either
in the form of an “open” record or a “closed” record.
The folios making up the “open” record have a consecutive
identification number and are subject to documentary
security procedures consisting of watermarks or other
distinctive marks.
There is currently a decisive movement towards legislative
reform in favour of “open” records. A total of 21 federal
states now contemplate these records in their legislation
as being either obligatory or optional and 11 states do
not, although we should point out that 4 of them possess
the record known as the “special open” record for executing
deeds for immovable properties of “social interest”
which other federal states have abolished, precisely to introduce
the “open” protocol in a generalised manner.
Interested parties have the right to obtain transcripts,
certified reproductions and certificates of the document
from the notary of either the full document or part thereof,
provided that no damage ensues in this latter case. The
transcripts executed by notaries are subject to security
procedures on one cover, which identifies the notary, the
number of his notary public's office, the respective jurisdiction
and the local government to which it belongs. It is
also common for the cover to show the notary's private
logotype or letterhead. In turn, it is mandatory for the
printed sheets of transcripts to bear the seal and the signature
or paraph of the notary and, in some cases, the respective
kinegram. 3
1.6.3. Public documents
Public documents are documents that a public official
who has been granted the authority to attest documents is
authorised by law to draft, within the limit of his powers.
Public documents are also those documents issued by
public officials when discharging their duties. The classification
of public is shown by the fact the document bears
regular stamps, signatures or other external signs provided
by law, as appropriate (article 129 of the Federal Code
of Civil Procedure).
1.7. Notaries' tariffs
There is no applicable general system of notaries' tariffs.
In fact, such a system is established in few federal
states, including the Federal District and Veracruz. It may
be that in other states it is provided by law and although
it has actually been issued, in practice it is meaningless
either due to its age or because of the complexity of its
application or because it is out of date due to the recent
financial inflation in Mexico.
1.8. Professional organisations
Most of the notarial laws in the Republic of Mexico
contemplate an association as an institution that obligatorily
groups together all the notaries in the federal state.
From a national perspective, the association known as
the Asociación Nacional del Notariado Mexicano
(ANNM) 4 (National Association of Mexican Notaries)
was founded in 1955. All of the notariates in the country
3 The new notarial laws of Veracruz, Tabasco and Nayarit already require
the use of the kinegram (article 136 of the Veracruz notarial
law) or hologram (article 40 of the Tabasco notarial law and article
148 of the Nayarit notarial law).