How to Sign Documents and Make Them Legally Binding
Signing your documents and your clients’ documents is an easy process, so let’s take a look at how it works.
Each document in your estate plan (trust, will, power of attorney, etc) has a signature page. Your documents must be signed and dated for them to be legally binding. The process of dating and signing your documents is called executing your documents. Most of the documents in your estate plan require your signature be notarized, a few, like your will, require your signature be witnessed. Each signature page indicates clearly whether a notary or witness is required.
Once you have executed all your documents, scan and email them to docs@estateguru.com. Upon receipt of your scanned signature pages the system reads the QR code on the upper corner of the page and attaches each signature page to its respective document in your online legal file.
The signature pages that must be signed and notarized are easily located in physical copy of your documents that we send you and can also be downloaded in PDF format and printed off directly from the platform after the documents have been approved and completed.
If for some reason you cannot scan and email your completed signature pages, please send copy (DO NOT SEND ORIGINALS) to:
Estate Plan Support, 560 South 100 West, Suite 1, Provo, UT 84601 and we will manually upload your signature page to your file.
“Wet Signatures” vs. “Digital Signatures”
Can your clients submit their signature pages using digital signatures or digital signature solutions?
Digital signatures are very common today. Billions of dollars move from one party to another with nothing more than an electronic signature. Unfortunately, in almost every jurisdiction, testamentary documents (documents that become legally binding at death) require a physical, or wet signature. And in the few forward thinking states where digital signature have been approved, they are not widely accepted yet. As a result, until digital signatures for estate planning documents become the norm, we will continue to require your documents be physically signed. But don’t worry, as the laws change in regards to digital signatures – so will we!
What kind of paper is used for the physical documents?
You can print you and your clients’ documents with whatever paper you choose. But in case you would like to know what we use and recommend – we use Hammermill – Laser Print – 24lb – 98 Bright – 3-hole drilled paper. It can be ordered online at: restockit.com.
This type of paper is resistant to aging, color decay and is not flimsy so it holds its shape over time.