FACTS: A buyer submitted an offer to a seller.  The seller countered the buyer.  The buyer accepted the counter-offer.  On both documents, the buyer signed her name using the Vietnamese alphabet.

ISSUE: Is the buyer’s signature valid?

ANSWER: Yes.

DISCUSSION:         

The general rule is that a writing or memorandum is “signed” in accordance with the statute of frauds if it is signed by the person to be charged by any of the known modes of impressing a name on paper, namely, by writing, printing, lithographing, or other such mode, provided the same is done with the intention of signing. R & M Oxford Const., Inc. v. Smith, 172 Ariz. 241, 836 P.2d 454, (Ariz. App. Div. 1, 1992)(citing Bishop v. Norell, 88 Ariz. 148, 151, 353 P.2d 1022, 1025 (1960).

Here, the buyer always signs her name using the Vietnamese alphabet. Therefore, it is her legally recognized signature and can be used.