acknowledge

To acknowledge means to: 

  • Accept, recognize, confirm, or admit the existence or truth of something. 
  • Validate an identity or claim. 
  • Authenticate an instrument or writing by declaration or statement under oath by the person who executes the instrument or writing, in the presence of a notary, officer, or other impartial party.   
  • Recognize an individual as one’s heir.
  • Recognize receipt of a document or payment.
  • Accept responsibility for. 

Examples of people and items that may be acknowledged under the law include:

  • An acknowledged child is a child that is recognized by a parent as their own. 
  • An acknowledged heir is an heir recognized by a decedent by act or designation while the decedent was alive.
  • An acknowledged deed is a deed recognized as authentic and true by a formal statement that is witnessed.
  • An acknowledged payment is a payment made by an authorized person that has been successfully received. 
  • An acknowledged debt is a debt that has been recognized by the debtor as owed to the lender. 

[Last reviewed in February of 2025 by the Wex Definitions Team]

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