Yesterday just for fun I googled "promissory note signatures" and found this, aptly titled: "HOW TO MAKE A PROMISSORY NOTE LEGAL." Gotta love it.
Here on page one of Google: a small business help site in straightforward language giving us basic guidance which we could take to an attorney if need be but perhaps wouldn't need to once we corroborate with other research and references: Oh, and look! A legal promissory note requires more than just the borrower's solo signature! Imagine that. Business 101? Or maybe even a high school class on Entrepreneurship and Ideas. I'd go to that one in a heartbeat! But I digress ...
First let's just take a look at the simple steps outlined in the small business guide linked above:
1. Establish the date at the top of the page. The terms and conditions of the promissory note will become effective as of this date unless otherwise specified in the agreement.
2. Define who the two parties are in the promissory note agreement and include contact information. The promisor, also known as an obligor, is the person getting the loan and promising to repay it under the contract terms. The promisee, otherwise known as an olbigee, provides the principal loan value.
3. Establish the "consideration" of the contract. This means that the promisee will get something such as interest in return ("in consideration of") for lending the money to the promisor. Maximum interest rates are defined by state securities boards; contact your local state board to ensure the consideration falls within legal guidelines.
4. Write the duration of the promissory note. Establish when the loan starts, when it should be repaid in full and the frequency of interest.
5. Create signature lines at the bottom of the promissory note, one for each party to sign.
6. Print two copies of the promissory note. Have both parties sign both copies and retain one for each respective set of records.
A basic black-letter requirement of contract law: promissory notes have BOTH PARTIES' SIGNATURES. Well certainly in the Foreclosure Machine's colluding forces our notes were "patented" (and departed far beyond lawful) becoming private instruments, along with its accompaniment Deed of Trust or Mortgage that puts the property up as collateral. The Foreclosure Machine couldn't work if it complied with contract law, no it relied on rolling out Unconscionable Adhesions in their patented SOLE SIGNATORY instruments as fast as possible from 1998 -2008, the decade marked by Glass Steagel repeal and deregulation leading to the Crash of 08.
SOH. Translation: Shaking Our Heads.