A notarization is a fundamental procedure in preventing fraud and protecting not only the person who executes the document, but third parties involved in the legal process. Trusts, agreements with creditors, mortgages, deeds, and affidavits are some examples of documents that often require notarial certification.
Although historically a notary public had to personally appear in front of a public notary in order to execute a document, states like Florida (US) have implemented greater use of technology enabling remote online notarization (“RON”). Additionally, as a response to the pandemic, a number of other states have suspended in-person notarization requirements to meet concerns associated to COVID-19 transmission. These have inspired the coming into being of efforts such as NotaryFix, betting on process agility, immediacy, and security.
Companies around the United States and worldwide had to adjust their operations facing the crisis. That is where choices like NotaryFix, with a platform that enables lawyers to safely electronically notarize their clients’ documents in different areas of the law, removing the requirement of the signer and public notary being physically present in front of each other while providing an electronic document that easily detects any tampering.
Remote online notarization (“RON”) includes a technology that prevents fraud by thoroughly verifying the identity of the person signing the document and establishing real-time audio and video communication between the public notary, the person signing the document, and any witnesses. Verification processes are used by the platform to confirm the identity of the person signing while also saving a recording of the notarization process. Whenever technology is used, there are certain risks, but these risks are mitigated when proper due diligence is used.
Technology as a Contribution to the Legal Process
To validate the identity of the person signing, there is a verification process where the platform asks several questions that must be accurately answered. These are known as Knowledge Based Authentication questions or “KBA”. Once the signer passes this step, a copy of the identification document is uploaded for the platform to verify its legitimacy. After successful completion of these first steps, the person joins the session with the public notary. To add a layer of security, the session is recorded, and an audit trail is created to monitor any subsequent changes and to register every ‘movement’ made to the document, such as where, when, and who signed it. This audit trail indicates if someone has made any changes to the document after its completion.
NotaryFix is a Synonym of Agility and Security
It must be noted that NotaryFix does not employ any public notaries, but it is a platform that , while conforming with all requirements of the law, allows lawyers and their own public notaries to virtually meet with clients to review, sign, and notarize documents faster and more securely. The executed documents are then uploaded to our portal for easy access. More and more law firms have started to implement this notarization process into their practices and therefore becoming more efficient, even during the current crisis.
Remote Online Notarization (“RON”) reduces fraud when executing documents because it provides different layers of security.
This digital option minimizes the risk of fraud through robust identity verification and credential analysis, as well as safekeeping since digital documents are less likely to get lost, stolen, or damaged.
