A client recently inquired if there is a requirement that an Illinois mortgage include a maturity date or was it just a case of good legal practice. Section 765 ILCS 5/11 states that “Mortgages of the lands may be substantially in the following form . . . showing when due”. I would argue that the use of the word “may” and not “shall” in the statute leaves room for interpretation. Illinois Court’s have held that the lack of particularity will not invalidate a mortgage if the intention of the parties is apparent and the note secured by the mortgage is capable of identification from other parts of the mortgage instrument. The Court in Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Kobbeman, 260 Ill. App. 508, 511 (2nd Dist. 1931), stated that as long as the promissory note is clearly identified, the mortgage would be found valid “where there is a misrecital as to the amount of the note secured . . . where there is a mistake in reciting the date of the note, or its maturity, or in specifying the time and manner of its payment; but such error is merely clerical, and the note is nevertheless clearly identified.” However, since the purpose of recording a mortgage is notice to third parties, the Illinois Court in Flexter v. Woomer, 46 Ill. App. 2d 456, 459 (5th Dist. 1964) found that a mortgage which did not state the maturity date or amount of the note was not constructive notice to a transferee of the real property. The short answer here is that although a mortgage that properly describes the underlying promissory note is still valid without a maturity date therein, the priority of the mortgage may suffer. Personally, this isn’t a mortgage on which I would be comfortable giving an unqualified opinion as to priority.