The Importance of Using a Remote Notary

October 18, 2018

It’s probable that many of us have some experience with notaries from needing a commissioned expert to notarize a document for various types of legal papers.

Popular notarized documents include: 

  • Closing documents
  • A power of attorney
  • Real estate contracts
  • Insurance documents
  • Medical documents

Notaries have been around for thousands of years, and the profession has changed little since its start. However, a little more than a decade ago, new laws took effect, allowing electronic notarization of documents.

E-notary laws

The first states to pass specific laws regarding e-notaries include North Carolina and Florida. These laws allowed one to notarize documents electronically – not to be confused with remote notarizations, where, just like a paper-based notarization, both the participant and the notary have to be physically present when they electronically notarize the document. 

Fast forward to 2012, and the state of Virginia went a step further. It not only allowed electronic notarizations, but also allowed commissioned notaries to do the entire notarial act via a webcam, without the parties needing to be physically present.

Remote notary

This webcam online notary, or remote notary, is when the notary is in one location and the participant is in another. The state categorizes a webcam-based procedure as remote, so long as it meets the state’s requirements and guidelines for a remotely based notarial act. This can include identity verification via knowledge-based authentication (KBA) and some forms of ID credential analysis.

Since Virginia's step forward, many other states followed, enacting attempts at their own e-notary and remote notary laws. The list of states includes:

  • Texas
  • Montana
  • Nevada
  • California
  • Indiana
  • Michigan
  • Pennsylvania
  • Tennessee
  • Ohio
  • Minnesota

Why notaries are in high demand

As the popularity and business needs for both electronic notarizations and remote notarizations grow exponentially, so does the need for commissioned notaries who can perform these types of notarial acts. 

At DocVerify, we have seen the need for remote notaries across many industries. Real estate, among other sectors, such as legal, medical, insurance, and finance, benefit greatly from electronic and remote notarial services, and many of these sectors are quickly realizing the benefits of it.

How remote notary works

Say you’re a medical practice, and you need to have your doctors sign documents that require notarization. Today, those doctors would probably have to find a notary, get notarization, place it in an envelope, and then send it to the medical practice.

However, what if there was an easier way? What if the practice could have one of its own notaries contact each doctor via webcam, and notarize the documents remotely? Think about how much time and money that would save.

How software can help

As for notaries, there are standalone e-notary platform providers that make it easy for users to sign up and quickly establish notary businesses. 

Companies that have access to their own notarial services can also benefit from these standalone e-notary platform providers.

Additionally, some providers may also have application programming interface (APIs), widgets, or web hooks that allow electronic or remote notarizations within clients’ custom applications, portals, or websites.

New laws have opened the door to remote notary call center services, but these aren’t beneficial to notaries who want to make a decent living or companies that want to use their own notaries. Call centers usually have their own notaries, who they pay only a fraction of what they collect.

Remote notarial process

So, how does the remote or online notarial procedure work? Almost all the states that implemented, or will soon be implementing, remote notary laws have similar requirements and guidelines. Even though the overall laws may vary from state to state, the core concepts are similar.

When someone wants to notarize a document remotely, they first need to verify their identity using KBA, as required by states. The states have strict guidelines when it comes to KBA, which require participants to answer a certain number of questions correctly within a specific amount of time. If the participants fail, they usually get another chance to try again with a 24-hour period. Once the participants pass, they will then be able to connect with the notary via webcam. In these situations, the notary has to record the notarial act and save that recording for a certain period.

In conclusion 

The real estate industry has a lot to gain from electronic and remote notarizations – it makes it possible to have a complete end-to-end electronic closing (who doesn't want that?).

However, the real estate industry only accounts for about half of all the notarizations in the U.S., and it's important to remember that the other half can benefit from it as well.

The Importance of Using a Remote Notary Remote notarization is becoming increasingly more popular because of its speed and ease of use. Learn why many companies and individuals are switching to online platforms, such as DocVerify, to get their documents notarized. https://learn.g2crowd.com/hubfs/remote%20notary.jpg
Darcy Mayer Darcy Mayer is the CTO of DocVerify, a e-signature solution that allows you to electronically sign or notarize documents. https://learn.g2crowd.com/hubfs/docverify.png

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