How to Have Legal Documents Notarized Online During the Pandemic

Can Legal Documents be Notarized Online?

For areas covered by community quarantine, you can now have your legal documents like contracts, affidavits, and other certificates notarized not exactly online, but remotely through the use of videoconferencing facilities under the 2020 Interim Rules on Remote Notarization of Paper Documents issued by the Supreme Court.

Is this available for all types of legal documents?

No. This will be limited to those paper documents and instruments with handwritten signature or marks. Notarial wills are not allowed.

How can you have legal documents notarized online?

Here are the simple steps you should follow:

1. The parties shall get in touch with a Notary Public and make arrangements for the remote notarization. The parties and witnesses should be in the same city or territorial jurisdiction.
2. The parties and witnesses to the legal document should sign and execute the instrument or document requiring acknowledgment, oath, or affirmation. The parties should record a short video clip clearly showing the instrument or document and the act of signing by the parties.
3. The parties shall then deliver the instrument or document in a sealed envelope with the initials of the parties to the office of the notary public by courier service, along with the following:
   • 2 copies of any government issued ID
   • If the signatory is a representative: 2 certified copies of the document granting authority and 2 copies of any government issued ID of the party granting such authority
   • If the party is a corporation: 2 copies of government issued ID of the corporate secretary and Secretary Certificate or Board Resolution
   • For witnesses: 2 copies of the competent evidence of identity
4. The video clip may be sent to the Notary Public by e-mail or other electronic means, or by saving a copy in a CD or USB drive and enclosing it with the other materials.

What to expect once the Notary Public has already received the legal document?

Upon receipt of the sealed envelope and the video clip, the notary public will schedule a videoconference. At the appointed time:

• The notary public will require the parties and witnesses to confirm their identities and location by showing their geolocation through an application with GPS capabilities or by showing identifiable landmarks or buildings within the vicinity.
• The parties and witnesses will confirm that the instrument or document exhibited to them is the very same one delivered to the notary public.
• The parties and witnesses shall sign on a blank piece of paper within full view of the notary public for comparison.
• The parties will declare that they have executed the instrument as their voluntary act and deed.
• The notary public will then complete the notarial certificate by affixing his or her signature and official seal.

What to expect after notarization?

After the notarization has been performed and the corresponding notarial and courier service fees and expenses paid, the principal shall cause the retrieval of the notarized documents from the notary public either personally or by courier service. The principal shall shoulder all expenses in connection with the remote notarization.