66-26-110 - Registered instruments as evidence Presumptions and burden of proof regarding signatures on instruments. - Tennessee Statutes

66-26-110. Registered instruments as evidence Presumptions and burden of proof regarding signatures on instruments.

(a)  Any instruments so proved or acknowledged, certified and registered, shall be received as evidence in any of the courts, judicial and administrative tribunals of the state, subject, nevertheless, to be impeached and proved to be a forgery, or to be otherwise inoperative, if the fact be so.

(b)  In an action with respect to an instrument, the authenticity of and authority to make each signature on the instrument is admitted, unless specifically denied in the pleadings. If the validity of a signature is denied in the pleadings, and if the instrument is not registered or is not properly acknowledged or proved, the burden of establishing validity is on the person claiming validity, but the signature is presumed to be authentic and authorized, unless:

     (1)  The signer is dead or incompetent at the time of trial on the issue of validity of the signature; and

     (2)  The instrument is unregistered or has been registered for fewer than twenty (20) years.

(c)  Under the presumption set forth in subsection (b), the trier of fact must find that the signature is authentic and authorized, unless evidence to the contrary is introduced.

[Code 1858, § 2071 (deriv. Acts 1831, ch. 90, § 6); Shan., § 3748; mod. Code 1932, § 7664; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 64-2610; Acts 2005, ch. 303, § 4.]