E-notarization help needed

Hi, I’m in search of a company, besides DocuSign, for e-notarization. I work for a Florida government agency and we do not have the funds for a high-end company. Any help would be appreciated.

Pavaso?

I’m not getting involved in e-notarization or remote notarizations so am not familiar with many; but reading here and elsewhere I’ve seen Pavaso mentioned.

How about checking with your state SOS and see if they have a list of acceptable companies who provide your digital signature.

Thanks, Linda - very helpful!

It would be helpful if you could say what state your organization is located in; whatever solution you choose must be lawful in your state.

My impression is Pavaso is not a general purpose e notarization platform; they serve the real estate closing clientele. Since government agencies don’t do real estate closings, I seriously doubt Pavaso would be interested in helping you.

It would also help to give a general description of your use case. I can only think of one case of a government agency getting involved with e notarizations; New Jersey decided trash haulers would have to file e notarized forms for annual permits. That was a total disaster because they had no knowledge of their state notary laws and completely misjudged the sophistication of the people filing this forms.

If you screw it up the people you offend will be picketing the campaign appearances of your boss’'s boss’s boss, and your department will be at the bottom of the heap for funding for decades.

Here in Texas we are allowed to do e- notarize, however the SOS of Texas does not and will not recommend any companies at all for any type of help. They only give you information in the requirements to become a notary, remote notary or e-notary. It would be helpful, since they grant our certification/s. However, I can see where recommendations could backfire, since companies come and go, and quality may change over time.
I have wanted to take this step, and become an e-notary, only because I know it’s the “wave of the future” I’m not sure if it will be financially beneficial. I’m not sure if companies/people will pay much, even for the convenience, simply because the lesser cost of paper/ink and traveling cost will become extinct. Although the cost of the certification, software(company who authorizes signers and notary signing agent) and storing the video and audio recordings and online ledgers(all required in the state of Texas) is quiet expensive. The main reason I have considered the e-notary is due to health issues. I want to continue my services as a notary signing agent today and years to come, servicing my community for as long as I am physically and financially able.

Maybe this will help your decision? This is just my thinking and my experience…

#1 - I think remote notarizations are open-ended fraud looking to happen and I don’t want my name associated with any of it.

#2 - it’s pricey here in Florida - $25k bond & $25k E&O required; cost of provider - probably $400-$500 plus monthly fee (I’ve heard $40/month) to be remote-notary capable;

#3 - and probably the most influential reason I won’t do it - in my 14 years as a notary here in Florida I have had ONE - yes, just ONE request for an e-signing - I just don’t see the ROI for this type of service.

I don’t like cloud storage of anything - especially signers’ NPII - I don’t trust this procedure and would not be thrilled to have a notary do this for me - …therefore I will not partake.

YMMV but this is why I won’t do it.

I have no idea why the post came out so large…my apologies…I was not yelling…lol

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Hi, Ashton-
Florida based agency and it’s mostly used for notarizing Affidavits and Orders.

If this is a matter of agency employee/notaries meeting in person with the person issuing the order or swearing to an affidavit, there may be no need to get a company like DocuSign involved. They are possibly of value to companies sending docs to signers in a different office, city, or state, but if people are coming to your agency in person for the signing, all you need is a digital certificate.

For prices starting at $59/year per notary, you could get a digital certificate from IdenTrust. It could be installed in the Windows certificate store on the notary’s computer. Then the document to be signed is created in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat, the signer signs it in one of several ways, and the notary signs it with the digital certificate. (Microsoft Word automatically finds digital certificates in the Windows certificate store; Adobe Acrobat has to have one of the preferences changed to find those certificates.) The document gets signed on the hard drive of the computer as part of the signing process. From there it can be emailed to whoever needs it.

There are other vendors who offer similar certificates. Also, there are other alternatives for how the certificate is stored. For example, it can be on a special USB token in case other people have access to the computer.

I have no connection to IdentTrust; it’s just a company I was looking at when In Person Electroninc Notarization (IPEN) was allowed in Vermont. Presently Vermont notaries are not allowed to do any kind of enotarization until the Secretary of State creates rules for it; it could be a year or two before that happens. I never got set up for enotarization because there didn’t seem to be any demand for it. I would not want to get involved in Remote Online Notarization (RON).

One issue to consider is once you have an electronically signed order or affidavit, how are you going to deliver it to whoever is supposed to get it? If the recipient only accepts paper, once you print the document, all the security features are lost and it’s just a copy, not an original.

Actually it would only be used for Affidavits - so it’s basically stored in the office. Only Violation of Orders and Release of Liens would be the only two documents that are paper only.

lol no worries :joy: