n a dispute between a brother and sister over ownership of the family home, the sister contended that a deed from her mother to her should prevail over an earlier deed from her mother to the brother because she was never made aware of the earlier deed and because the acknowledgment on the deed was forged. An acknowledgment is a notarized statement that the grantor personally signed the deed. In this instance, the grantor (the mother) had not personally signed the deed in the notary's presence. The acknowledgment was therefore defective. The court held in Allen v. Allen, 16 N.E.3d 1078 (Mass. App. Ct. 2014), that state statute prohibited such a deed from providing constructive notice to a later purchaser. Thus the sister's property claim prevailed over that of the brother.