Remotely Notarized Documents

What To Look For – Audit & Signature Certificates

Whether you’re new to getting your documents notarized online or you’ve been having this done for years, here is a quick check list of what to look for on your Audit & Signature Certificates. This is to help ensure your document has been legitimately remotely notarized.

Audit/Signature Certificate

 Here at Remote Notarez, you will always receive an Audit and Signature Certificate. If you went to another online notary company and did not receive some type of audit or signature certificate – request one, and if not available my advice is to not use that service again. Many types of transactions will require you to show an audit/signature certificate. This is proof of the online notarization.

When reviewing your signature certificate, all documents will be authored by Natasha Stromley – the owner of Remote Notarez. You will see the date the document was created (uploaded to the system and prepared for esigning) and the date the remote online esigning was complete. You will see three (3) sections below those details: Document Details, Document Signed By, and Document History section.  Lastly, you will see your Virginia commissioned notaries certificate with a time stamp of when they were performing the remote notarization.

Document Details

The Document Detail section is the first section you will see when reviewing your Audit and Signature Certificate. You will receive this with your remotely notarized document. There will be screenshot(s) of the document(s) that were electronically signed. Then you will see the name of each document, a reference number, and how many pages were in that document.

We here at Remote Notarez cannot tell you if you should send your documents in one combined PDF package or each PDF document separately. A guideline for this would be that if you wish to have each document show on the certificate, please upload each document vs. as one PDF. This way you will have a screen shot/document title and reference number for each separate document electronically signed during that remote online notary session.

For Online Vessel Closings: To avoid any issues with the United States Coast Guards - USCG, your remote notary will separate your documents if they are sent as one combined PDF package.  

When reviewing your remotely notarized documents, the Document Reference number will be at the bottom of each of your document pages. This is to ensure that you received the correct Audit & Signature Certificate. If you have separate documents listed, each document will have a different reference number and will be documented under the Document Details section.

Pros vs. Cons of uploading documents separately:

• Pro: Each document will have a screenshot, title, reference number and show how many pages were part of that document. This is best when you do not need to combine your documents into one final document. Best to use if you need to use each document separately.
• Con: If you have several documents, it is very time consuming when uploading. If you need to combine the documents into one final document, you will be tampering with the remote notarization integrity of each document. Your document may show that it has been tampered with.

Document Signed By

It’s important for any online notarized Audit/Signature certificate to indicate who electronically signed the document and by what name they went by.  Each signer will have provided proof of identity during the online notary session and the names esigned will match the identifications provided to your online notary. You will see the email address that they provided. In some cases, signers will not have an email address and they will be Guest Signers with Remote Notarez.  If you wish for your email address to show for each signer, you must provide an email address. You will see an IP Address and Location of where the document was electronically signed. This should be the same as your remote notary and not for yourself or the signer. Here at Remote Notarez, if you have requested service through our site and not an outside vendor – you will be using Virginia commissioned notaries. You will always have a Virgina location. In the instance of using an outside vendor and requesting a notary from a certain state it can be a good idea to double check to make sure you truly have a remote notary from that state.

All audit/signature certificates should have a date and a time of when it was signed. After each person has electronically signed, they must accept eSignatures. This will be listed as accepted. Lastly, one of our securities is to ensure that the email address is valid. This will be listed as well. Please note signers will need to verify their identity. If you need a copy of the ID checks, please let us know. This will not be included in our Audit & Signature Certificate.

Document History & eNotary Seal Authentication Digital Certificate

Your audit/signature certificate should include the history of the document life cycle with your remote online notary. It should include the date it was uploaded and prepared for esigning. You should see a list of who electronically signed and when. Remote Notarez’s certificates will include the time the document was executed – this will be the time the last person accepted electronic signatures.

Underneath the three (3) sections, your remote notary will electronically sign the document with a time stamp and a display of their eNotary Seal Authentication Digital Certificate. Our Virginia Online Notaries has gone through the process of having their identity authenticated and issued a certificate from IdenTrust. This is an encrypted certificate that should never be out the control of the remote notary. If you validate that the certificate is legitimate, you will be able to click on the certificate and it will state that it is valid. In some cases, you will need to add the notary to your Trusted list.

Please let us know if you have any questions regarding Remote Notarez Audit & Signature Certificates. Your remote online notaries are here to help you with anything you may need.  I hope you have found this blog interesting, and as I mentioned, it is best to not use an online notary service that does not provide you with a Signature Certificate.