In the Philippines, my mother in law was with me physically during a residential leasing contract transaction.
On the first page of the contract where there's a place to write IN the identity of the lessor, BOTH of our names ARE listed as lessees THERE.
BUT...on the 4th and final page, which is the page where the notarial seal appears and where the signatures with attached TITLES are found, under the LESSEE title only my name and signature appears. And under the WITNESS title, only my mother in law's name appears.
My mother in law's signature appears on the SIDE of every page, but in all of those signatures, it doesn't identify whether she is lessee, witness or both by way of THOSE signatures.
My question therefore IS, what actually IS my mother in law, LEGALLY, on this contract? Is she co-lessee as the first page might suggest. Or is she witness as the 4th page might more strongly suggest, I think. Or is she both?
I don't understand how she can really be a co-lessee because, follow the logic here, a co-lessee is a PARTY to a contract, right, but a witness is supposed to be a neutral observer or a NON-party to the contract, right? So how could you be both? How can you be WITNESS to your OWN co-lessee contract?
It really is paradoxical. Has anyone ever encountered anything like this before?
The girl that we did the transaction with is just a "I'll get the coffee" type of secretary and it appears that she did a great job of muddying the water here.
Can anybody help clarify matters? Any help would be greatly appreciated! God bless!