Section 18-12-203 - Officers authorized to take proof or acknowledgment of real estate conveyances(a) The proof or acknowledgment of every deed or instrument of writing for the conveyance of any real estate shall be taken by one (1) of the following courts or officers: (1) When acknowledged or proved within this state, before the Supreme Court, the circuit court, or any justices or judges thereof, the clerk of any court of record, any county judge, or before any notary public;(2) When acknowledged or proved outside this state, and within the United States or its territories, or in any of the colonies or possessions or dependencies of the United States, before any court of the United States, or any state or territory, or colony or possession or dependency of the United States, having a seal, or a clerk of any such court, or before any notary public, or before the mayor of any incorporated city or town, or the chief officer of any city or town having a seal, or before a commissioner appointed by the Governor; and(3) When acknowledged or proved outside the United States, before any: (A) Court of any state, kingdom, or empire having a seal;(B) Mayor or chief officer of any city or town having an official seal; or(C) Officer of any foreign country who by the laws of that country is authorized to take probate of the conveyance of real estate of his or her own country if the officer has, by law, an official seal.(b) The acknowledgment of any deed or mortgage, when taken outside the United States, may be taken and certified by a United States consul.Rev. Stat., ch. 31, § 13; Acts 1874, No. 13, § 1, p. 58; 1887, No. 91, § 1, p. 142; 1897, No. 26, § 1, p. 33; 1899, No. 150, § 1, p. 276; C. & M. Dig., § 1516; Acts 1921, No. 233, § 1; 1923, No. 464, §§ 1, 2; Pope's Dig., § 1825; A.S.A. 1947, §§ 49-202, 49-203; Acts 2003, No. 1185, § 252.