{"id":2697,"date":"2020-12-05T11:39:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-05T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/?p=2697"},"modified":"2020-12-19T21:02:24","modified_gmt":"2020-12-20T01:02:24","slug":"are-electronic-signatures-legally-binding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/are-electronic-signatures-legally-binding\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Electronic Signatures Legally Binding?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Clients sometimes ask whether DocuSign and similar apps are safe to use. The convenience just seems too good to be true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>E-signing technology is becoming more common, and the benefits are undeniable. With these apps, you can affix your signature with a simple tap on your phone screen. Compare that with having to print the document, sign, scan, and then email the signed copy. Sometimes you have to go find witnesses. If notarization is required, then you really have yourself a project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, naturally, we would all prefer to e-sign documents. However, no amount of convenience is worthwhile if the signatures are not enforceable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">In this Article:<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/are-electronic-signatures-legally-binding\/#Legal_Analysis_Are_E-Signatures_as_Valid_as_Handwritten_Signatures\" >Legal Analysis: Are E-Signatures as Valid as Handwritten Signatures?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/are-electronic-signatures-legally-binding\/#Practical_Application\" >Practical Application<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/are-electronic-signatures-legally-binding\/#Digital_Signatures_Are_the_Way_of_the_Future\" >Digital Signatures Are the Way of the Future<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Legal_Analysis_Are_E-Signatures_as_Valid_as_Handwritten_Signatures\"><\/span>Legal Analysis: Are E-Signatures as Valid as Handwritten Signatures?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The legal analysis here is very straightforward. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/PLAW-106publ229\/pdf\/PLAW-106publ229.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ESIGN Act<\/a> has been in place at the federal level for over 20 years. The same is true for the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), which is state-level legislation adopted by all but two states (Illinois and New York). To summarize, both acts say that <strong>a record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From a legal perspective, an e-signature has exactly the same validity as the handwritten version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Practical_Application\"><\/span>Practical Application<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here, the analysis gets a bit more interesting. Keep in mind that the objective behind the whole signature ritual is to&nbsp;bind&nbsp;people to the rights and obligations in their agreements. So, in the end, what we really want is enforceability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Is it easier for someone to weasel out of an electronically signed contract? The answer turns on the person\u2019s ability to say, \u201cHey, that\u2019s not my signature.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When deciding whether to enforce an agreement, a judge wants to know if the parties&nbsp;intended&nbsp;to be bound by the agreement. So, if the person on the other side is willing to lie about signing, and you have to prove the signature on the contract is authentic, what can you do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the past, having witnesses and\/or notarization has been a solid way of proving someone voluntarily signed a document. This kind of acknowledgment is still good evidence nowadays, but it is not as undeniable as it once was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>With a variety of software commonly available today, it is not too hard to take a picture of someone\u2019s actual signature and manipulate it onto another document.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/desperate-tenants-busted-in-scam-to-sell-house-they-are-squatting-in\/\" target=\"_blank\">A person willing to commit fraud<\/a> could use PDF or JPEG software to fake the signatures of both the party to the agreement and the witnesses. Notarization is equally vulnerable. With a picture of a notary stamp and some old-fashioned forgery, a fraudster could rather easily put together a document that appears to have been signed, witnessed, and notarized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The traditional methods are good, but they are not ironclad. In reality, they never have been (cue&nbsp;<em>Catch Me If You Can<\/em>). With just a little ingenuity, any document can be faked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The person you are trying to hold to a contract could say, \u201cThat looks like my signature, but I didn\u2019t sign that document.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Digital_Signatures_Are_the_Way_of_the_Future\"><\/span>Digital Signatures Are the Way of the Future<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since there is no way to ever be 100% certain that a signature is authentic \u2014 even with witnesses and notarization \u2014 why not take advantage of the convenience of e-signing? That logic is sound. Even beyond that, though, <strong>e-signatures can be more secure than handwritten signatures<\/strong>.<strong><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For one thing, e-signature apps generate a Certificate of Authenticity showing when and where the digital signature was affixed. Of course, that simple certificate is not proof positive, but it may very well be as good as notarization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At this point you may be thinking, <strong>These e-sign apps depend entirely upon email addresses, so it would be very easy for someone to get out of a contract by just saying \u201cSomeone hacked my email\u201d or \u201cOther people have access to the email account, and I didn\u2019t authorize the signature.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now we come to the crux. Don\u2019t you normally have an email thread showing discussions leading up to execution of the document? Or maybe text messages?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if you only send a single confirmation email saying something like \u201cI received your e-signed document,\u201d any judge would find that to be very compelling evidence\u2026assuming the other side did not respond with something like \u201cWhat are you talking about? I didn\u2019t sign anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you boil down to the actual purpose of a signature (demonstrating <a href=\"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/real-estate-joint-venture-agreement\/\" target=\"_blank\">a person willingly entered into an agreement<\/a>), e-signing apps are not only incredibly convenient and environment-friendly, but they also provide the ability \u2014 through written communications before and\/or after signing \u2014 to authenticate signatures&nbsp;<strong>more effectively<\/strong>&nbsp;than any of the traditional methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are still some agencies that have not caught up with digital signing. For example, we still have to submit immigration documents, loan documents, and certain others with wet ink originals. Nonetheless, electronic signing is definitely the way of the future, and we will all be better off for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clients sometimes ask whether DocuSign and similar apps are safe to use. The convenience just seems too good to be true. E-signing technology is becoming more common, and the benefits are undeniable. With these apps,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[301,303,302,55,136,76,256],"class_list":["post-2697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-investing-articles","tag-court","tag-deeds","tag-digital-signing","tag-law","tag-lawyer","tag-legal","tag-tenants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2697"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2703,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions\/2703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}