Acknowledgment

• Author: Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps

Page64

To acknowledge is to admit, affirm, declare, testify, avow, confess, or own as genuine. Admission or affirmation of obligation or responsibility. Most states have adopted the Uniform Acknowledgment Act.

The partial payment of a debt, for example, is considered an acknowledgment of it for purposes of tolling the statute of limitations?the time set by law for bringing a lawsuit?based on a person's failure to repay a debtor. State law usually gives a creditor six years from the date a debt is due, according to the creditor's contract with the debtor, to sue for nonpayment. If, on the last day of the fifth year, the debtor repays any part of the loan, the STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS is tolled or suspended. The creditor then has another six years from the date of partial payment to sue the debtor for the balance of the loan. The debtor's partial payment indicates acceptance of responsibility to pay the loan...