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Virginia Court Accepts Digitally Notarized Deed

The Circuit Court of Alexandria accepted the first digitally notarized property deed, according to a report, setting a precedent for digital records management.

The week of June 10 marked a first in the world of digital records as the Circuit Court of Alexandria, Va., accepted what it believes is the first digitally notarized property deed in the country, according to a report on The Chattanoogan. Chattanooga, Tenn.-based digital signature company SIGNiX partnered with Trustmark Certification Services to allow an American couple in France to complete the digital, remote notarization of a property deed.

This first marks a transition toward increased online activity and management of digital signatures and records, said John Harris, SIGNiX director of product management. “The expectation from our legal counsel, who are working on this with our partner Trustmark Certification Services, is that these notary seals done effectively by Virginia licensed notaries should be applicable outside of the state,” he said. In other words, he said, having remote, digital notaries in Virginia means digital deed notary services are now available everywhere in the country.

“With this sophisticated e-notary process, our customers had their documents notarized while they sat comfortably in their home in France,” said Timothy Reiniger, the cyber notary for the transaction and the CEO of Trustmark Certification Services, The Chattanoogan reported. “This eliminated the need for them to travel all the way to the American embassy in Paris, which would have been a full day trip.”

In addition to making things simpler for customers, managing these types of processes digitally makes records management easier and more secure, Harris said. The types of security and authentication they use, he said, isn’t proprietary, which means customers don’t have to worry about getting tied to SIGNiX as a vendor. “It’s based on international cryptographic standards and that provides a lot of benefits in the long term for the signed document,” he said.

Harris added that SIGNiX is working with several unnamed local government organizations to digitize signature and form services.

Photo from Shutterstock.

Colin wrote for Government Technology and Emergency Management from 2010 through most of 2016.