For those of you hoping to sign your estate plan documents from the comfort of your home, we have some good news to report.  After weeks of hard work by a number of Massachusetts attorneys including our own Abigail Poole, we finally have a law that will allow notaries to acknowledge signatures via video conference.  On Monday, Governor Baker signed the Virtual Notarization Act into law, a temporary measure effective only during and for three days after the current COVID-19 state of emergency.  This law permits attorneys (or paralegals under the supervision of attorneys) to notarize estate planning and real estate documents remotely using video conferencing, without being in the physical presence of those signing the document.

There are many technical requirements that must be followed in order for the document to be validly notarized, including:

• the signers must state on the video that they consent to the session being recorded
• the notary and all witnesses must observe the signing via video conference
• all parties be physically located in Massachusetts at the time of the signing
• the signers must disclose who is in the room with them and provide visual evidence on the video of everyone who is physically present in the room with the signers
• the signers must present their identification to the Notary during the video session and must send a copy of that identification to the Notary
• the video conference must be recorded and retained for 10 years
• the documents being notarized must contain special language stating that they were notarized in this manner
• a separate affidavit be completed and signed by the Notary regarding the session
• the documents must be returned to the Notary for notarization before they are complete and effective
• real estate documents signed in this manner require a second video conference between the Notary and the signer after the documents are received by the Notary before they can be validly notarized.

Although we are happy to have this option for clients who are unable to leave their homes or do not wish to do so, our curbside signings – variously referred to as “Car Hop” signings or “Wills on Wheels” – are also a popular and efficient way to sign documents in this time of physical distancing.

Maria Baler, Esq. is an estate planning lawyer and elder law attorney and partner at Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC, a law firm based in Dedham. She is also a former director of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (MassNAELA), and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Forum of Estate Planning Attorneys. For more information, please visit www.ssbllc.com or call (781) 461-1020. This article is not intended to provide legal advice or create or imply an attorney-client relationship. No information contained herein is a substitute for a personal consultation with an attorney.

April 2020

© 2020 Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC