Always Make It Clear You Need An Interpreter Because You Don’t Speak The Dutch Language

In her complaint the non-Dutch complainant, formerly married to a Dutch man, claims that the notary was uncareful when writing the prenuptial agreement and executing the instrument. The foreign complainant, formerly married to a Dutch man, complains that the notary was uncareful when writing the prenuptial agreement and executing the instrument. The complainant alleges that because she didn’t understand Dutch sufficiently when executing the instrument, she didn’t know what the prenuptial agreement said and it wasn’t until the divorce proceeding that she found out. The complainant claims that the notary should’ve engaged an interpreter.

For purposes of the statute of limitations the Board of Ethics must determine when the complainant found out about the notary’s alleged failure to engage an interpreter for purposes of executing the instrument (¶ 4.3).

The complainant is the only one who knows what she did understand of the instrument during execution. Therefore, she herself should have made it known that she didn’t understand the instrument and, if necessary, that she wanted an interpreter.

Even if the complainant didn’t understand the Dutch language sufficiently to understand the instrument and the notary should have known it at the time, she filed the complaint too late. When she executed the instrument, the complainant was aware that she didn’t properly understand it and that the notary nonetheless had not engaged an interpreter. If it wasn’t during but after execution of the instrument that the complainant found out that she had misunderstood the instrument, then the notary is at fault for failure to engage an interpreter when during execution of the instrument the notary should’ve known that the complainant was at risk of misunderstanding the instrument or even just some words in Dutch in the instrument. The complaint is dismissed, but because of the statute of limitations.

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