Guide
Updated · 4 min read
A DocuSign signature can be notarised in Florida, but not by a notary simply stamping a completed DocuSign envelope. The notarisation has to happen as part of the signing session — either in person with a wet signature, or through Florida remote online notarisation, where an approved platform handles identity proofing, records the video session, and applies a tamper-evident digital seal.
An electronic signature and an electronic notarisation are separate concepts. Florida has recognised electronic signatures for ordinary contracts for years — that is what DocuSign provides, and for most agreements it is entirely sufficient on its own.
A notarisation is an additional act performed by a commissioned official who verifies identity and witnesses the signing. DocuSign does not do that. It authenticates that an email account clicked a button; it does not verify that the human behind it is who they claim to be.
People regularly ask us to notarise a document they have already executed in DocuSign. We cannot, and neither can anyone else lawfully.
The notary must witness the signature. A completed DocuSign envelope is a signature that already happened, somewhere else, witnessed by nobody. Sealing it would be certifying an event the notary did not observe — the same defect as notarising a document someone signed at home and dropped off.
If your document needs both an electronic workflow and a notarisation, Florida remote online notarisation is the mechanism designed for it. The signing and the notarisation happen together in one recorded video session on an approved platform.
The platform runs knowledge-based authentication and ID forensics before the session starts, the notary appears live, and the seal applied is a tamper-evident digital certificate. The recording is retained for ten years.
For most ordinary contracts, yes. Florida has adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, giving electronic signatures the same legal effect as handwritten ones. What an electronic signature does not do is satisfy a requirement for notarisation, which is a separate act.
No. The notary must witness the signing. If a document has already been executed electronically and now turns out to need a notary, it has to be re-signed — either in person or in a remote online notarisation session.
Not yet. It is legally valid in Florida, but some county recorders, out-of-state title companies, foreign consulates and lenders still require wet ink. Confirm acceptance with whoever is receiving the document before you book a remote session.
Tell us what the document is and where you are. You will get a time and a total on the call — before we get in the car.
Mon–Sat 8am–8pm · Sun 9am–6pm · After-hours by appointment