The new Florida law authorizing remote online notarization (RON) is now in effect but it will take some time before there are Florida RONs registered and taking acknowledgements and oaths under the new law. As such, title insurance agents are going to be presented with marketing, legal and underwriting issues related to the use of RON notaries from other states.
Problems with constructive notice (the implied notice received when a document is recorded in the public records) can arise when a document is not properly acknowledged under the laws of Florida. Florida’s new RON statutes clearly extend constructive notice to RON acknowledgements. See s. 695.03(4) and s. 689.01(3). The scope of these provisions encompasses both Florida and other state RONs.
Accordingly, Old Republic Title will insure transactions involving Florida property where the instrument(s) to be insured or any deed in the back chain were acknowledged by either a Florida or other state RON if the principal is a U.S. citizen.
If the principal signing is a non-US citizen, a higher level of scrutiny is necessary because not all states (for example Virginia) require the same level of scrutiny we believe is required to protect against fraud as does the new Florida RON statutes. As such, the potential for fraud or abuse is greater because a Virginia RON may be chosen to circumvent limitations associated with authenticating the principal required in Florida. While we are aware that most of the RON platforms with Virginia online notaries utilize the Florida required credential analysis and challenge questions, these challenge questions cannot be generated for individuals that lack a U. S. social security number because they are not in the data bases used to generate them. Further, the software platforms currently cannot verify foreign ID credentials.
Due to the higher risk and potential for fraud, you must contact underwriting to discuss the circumstances prior to insuring any transaction which utilizes RON for a non-US citizen or other person without a U.S. social security number.
Please direct any questions regarding the foregoing to underwriting at underwriting@thefund.com.