By Michael Rothman, Esq., The Fund’s Legal Education Manager
Every real estate professional involved in a transaction with an out-of-town seller can relate to the dread of opening a FedEx envelope supposedly containing the fully executed deed, only to find that the seller signed in the wrong place, there are no witnesses, and the notary’s commission expired last month. Or, of the seller traveling abroad who missed her appointment at the local embassy, only to be told that the next available appointment won’t be for three weeks. Thankfully, with the advent of RON, the stressful days of “mailaway closings” may soon be a thing of the past.
On January 1, 2020, Florida will join a growing number of states to adopt Remote Online Notarization (RON). At its heart, the RON law will allow an existing Florida notary to register as an online notary and, using the necessary technology, remotely notarize most legal documents. The notary must take a required course on the duties and obligations of an online notary, obtain required insurance and bond coverage, and sign-up with a technology provider. The technology providers are called “RON Service Providers” (RSP). While there are many technical and legal requirements imposed on the remote online notary and on the RSP, for buyers and sellers it will be an experience not too dissimilar to using DocuSign and Facetiming over their computer, smartphone or iPad.
Continue Reading