Unauthorized Practice of Law in Maine

Attorney Certification of Title Searches

• Attorney Certifications are not required, but if a lender requires one, the borrower has the option of choosing their own attorney to provide such a certification to the lender. 9-A M.R.S.A. §3-311.

Attorney Opinions of Title

• Attorney Opinions of Title are not required and rarely used.

Closings

• Closings are not required to be done by attorneys.
• Attorneys are not required to be represent any parties to the transaction.

Document Preparation

• Title companies and their agents may prepare deeds and other documents in connection with the issuance of a title insurance policy.
• Other documents includes POA's.

Research

TIRS

15. Requirements Unique to Approved Attorneys In Maine, an “approved attorney” is one upon whose certification of title an insurance company will issue title insurance.

While the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine has not addressed the issue of conducting real estate closings or preparing documents, the court has held that by using attorney letterhead and acknowledging a deed as an attorney at law, which only attorneys are authorized to do is an unauthorized practice of law if the preparer is not an attorney.

Statute

Maine Code:33 §203. NEED FOR ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Deeds and all other written instruments before recording in the registries of deeds, except those issued by a court of competent jurisdiction and duly attested by the proper officer thereof, and excepting plans and notices of foreclosure of mortgages and certain financing statements as provided in Title 11, section 9-1501, subsection (1), paragraph (a), and excepting notices of liens for internal revenue taxes and certificates discharging such liens and excepting notices of liens for taxes assessed pursuant to Title 36, Part 1 and Parts 3 to 8 and Title 26, chapter 13, and releases discharging such liens, must be acknowledged by the grantors, or by the persons executing any such written instruments, or by one of them, or by their attorney executing the same, or by the lessor in a lease or one of the lessors or lessor's attorney executing the same, before a notary public in the State, or before an attorney-at-law duly admitted and eligible to practice in the courts of the

Cross-References

• Maine