Florida and Idaho are the latest states to adopt legislation allowing the use of remote online notarization (RON).
As of January 1, notaries in those states can electronically notarize (e-notarize) documents from a different location than signers.
In a release, Rick Triola, CEO of NotaryCam, which offers RON technology and services, says the passage of legislation in Florida represents a great use case considering its high vacation, retirement-age and transient populations, as well as the prevalence of international home buyers and investors.
“Florida consistently ranks in the top five nationwide in terms of mortgage origination volume, making it quite a milestone to have a state of this size and importance to the mortgage industry legalize RON,” Triola says. “Not only does this change enable out-of-state buyers and sellers to close a real estate transaction without needing to be physically located in the state of Florida, but it also eliminates all the associated and unnecessary friction with mail-away closings, such as transaction delays, overnight delivery charges and missing signatures, initials and/or pages from the final closing package. With 56 of the 66 counties in Florida allowing e-recording, it’s now easier than ever to complete a real estate transaction in Florida.”
The Florida bill also addresses electronic wills (e-wills) and clarifies that e-wills can be signed with an electronic signature.
NotaryCam completed its first remote electronic will in April in Nevada with a Nevada attorney, testator, notary and witnesses attending online from different locations and is preparing to roll out similar functionality in Florida.
I’ve been an e-notary for a couple years now in my state, and I can truly say this is definitely the future. There are also other providers, but I love being an e-notary on the DocVerify system.