In Hale v. Hale, 332 Mass. 329, 334, 125 N.E.2d 142 (1955), the parties were husband and wife and became owners as tenants by the entirety of a parcel of real estate in Newton on February 3, 1940. On June 5, 1940, the wife executed a quitclaim deed to the husband by which she conveyed to him "all . . . her right, title and interest" in the property. The instrument contained what purported to be a proper acknowledgment dated June 5, 1940, and it was recorded on that day. The parties were divorced in 1951. The wife then sought a partition of the property on the grounds that the deed was ineffective to convey her portion of the tenancy by entirety. She claimed that the deed did not contain an effective signature and testified that she did not remember appearing before a notary and acknowledging the deed. The husband presented evidence that while he was not sure whether the wife signed the deed at home or at his office, he recalls that he took it to the registry for recording immediately after it was signed. The court found that the deed was valid. The most persuasive evidence to that end was that the deed contained a certificate of acknowledgment by a notary public to the effect that the wife appeared before her on June 5, 1940, and acknowledged the instrument to be her free act and deed. The court held that none of the other evidence presented was enough to rebut the presumption or inference of regularity raised by the certificate, even though some basic facts about the circumstances of the signature were foggy.