Remote online notarization (RON) closings in Florida

What remote online notarization is

Florida lets a notarial act be performed over an audio-video link instead of across a table. The signer appears on camera before a Florida online notary, proves who they are, signs electronically, and the notary applies an electronic seal. The whole session is recorded. The document that comes out is an electronic original, and a Florida county will record it.

It is not the same as e-signing. An e-signature is the signature itself. Remote online notarization is the notarial act, performed by a notary the state has registered to perform it, with identity verification and a recording the statute requires.

Part II of chapter 117 of the Florida Statutes is where all of this lives.

Who performs it

Not every Florida notary can. The act has to be performed by a notary who holds a current Florida notary commission and is separately registered with the Department of State as an online notary public. Fla. Stat. § 117.225 sets out what that registration requires: the underlying commission, a course covering the duties and the technology, a $25,000 bond, and errors and omissions coverage of at least $25,000. A standard Florida notary commission on its own does not authorize a remote online notarization.

Nobody at Bayit Title holds that registration. Our commissions were checked against the Department of State record and are standard Florida notary commissions, which authorize an in-person notarial act and not an online one.

So a remote online notarization on one of our files is performed by a Florida-registered online notary, under that notary's own registration, through the platform the session runs on. Nothing else about the closing moves. The file is prepared here, the documents are reviewed here, and the closer who built it is reachable during the session. What changes is who takes the acknowledgment, and it is someone the statute authorizes to take it.

The two acceptances

Whether a given file can close this way is decided by two parties, and the signer is neither of them.

The lender. A lender has to accept remotely notarized loan documents, and not every lender does on every loan. A lender that will accept them may accept them only on a particular platform. We ask at intake and get the answer in writing.

The underwriter. Title insurance underwriters keep their own lists of approved remote online notarization platforms, so the platform matters as much as the lender's answer does. There is no single platform we put every file through: different remote signings run on different platforms, and we have closed on BlueNotary and on Proof among others. What is constant is the test rather than the name. Whichever platform a session runs on is one our underwriter accepts, and we confirm that before the session is booked rather than after.

That is why the platform is worth raising early rather than late. A lender that will only accept a particular platform, or an underwriter that will not accept the one a signer has used before, is a constraint we would rather find at the start of the file than the night before closing.

Signing from another state or another country

The notary has to be in Florida. The signer does not have to be anywhere in particular. Under Fla. Stat. § 117.209(3), an online notary public physically located in Florida may perform an online notarization "regardless of whether the principal or any witnesses are physically located in this state at the time of the online notarization", and § 117.209(4) provides that the validity of the act is determined by Florida law regardless of where the principal was.

The chapter contemplates the overseas signer expressly. § 117.201(6) provides that for an online notarization of a principal not located within the United States, a passport issued by a foreign government without a US immigration stamp may be used to verify identity, which is the identification a seller abroad is most likely to hold.

A seller abroad has two other routes, a US consular officer or a local notary whose authority is evidenced in a form Florida will accept, and which one works depends on the country, the lender and the underwriter. The seller is overseas. How do they sign a Florida closing? sets the three side by side.

What the signer needs

A computer or phone with a camera and a microphone, a connection that will hold for the length of the session, and government-issued photo identification. Identity is verified on the platform before the notary takes the acknowledgment, and a signer whose identity cannot be verified cannot proceed that day, which is one more reason the session is not left to the last day.

The session is recorded. The signer should expect that and should not be surprised by it.

What cannot be done by remote online notarization

The exclusions written into the statute apply whatever the lender and the underwriter allow. Solemnizing marriage is outside remote online notarization under Fla. Stat. § 117.209(1). Wills, trusts with testamentary aspects, health care advance directives and powers of attorney carry the extra screening requirements in Fla. Stat. § 117.285, and electronic witnessing is not valid where the principal is a vulnerable adult as defined in s. 415.102.

A deed, a mortgage or a closing document is none of those. There is no statutory exclusion for them.

A deed still needs its two subscribing witnesses under Fla. Stat. § 689.01(1) whether it is signed across a table or over a link, so the witnesses are part of what is arranged before the session, not on the day.

When it is the wrong choice

Three ways of doing the same closing exist for a reason. A first-time buyer who wants to sit down and go through the documents with the person who prepared them is usually best served in our Coral Springs office. A signer in the United States who cannot travel but would rather sign on paper is a mobile signing, which we arrange anywhere in the country with three business days' notice. Remote online notarization is the answer when the signer is far away, when the schedule does not allow a trip, or when the signer simply prefers it, and only when the lender and the underwriter have said yes.

How Bayit Title handles this

We ask on the first call whether anyone signing will be outside Florida or outside the country, and whether they would rather sign online in any case, because that single answer changes the schedule more than almost anything else on a file.

As soon as we have it, we put the route to the lender and the underwriter and get their acceptance in writing before anything is scheduled, rather than finding out at signing that a document will not be accepted. We confirm the platform the session will run on is one the underwriter accepts. The file is prepared and reviewed here as it would be for any closing, the signer gets the documents to read ahead of the session, and the closer who built the file is reachable while it runs.

If the lender or the underwriter says no, we say so at once and move the file to a mobile signing or an in-office closing, with the same closing date where the calendar allows it.

Common questions

Can I close on a Florida property from another state by remote online notarization?

Yes. The notary has to be in Florida; the signer can be in any state. Fla. Stat. § 117.209(3) says the notarization may be performed regardless of where the principal is. The lender and the underwriter still have to accept it, and we confirm both before the session is booked.

Can I close from outside the United States?

Yes, on the same terms, and a foreign passport without a US immigration stamp is acceptable identification for a signer outside the country under Fla. Stat. § 117.201(6). The practical constraints are the time difference and a connection that will hold for the session.

Does Bayit Title do remote online notarization closings?

Yes. We offer remote online notarization, in-office signing, and mobile signing anywhere in the United States. The remote notarization itself is performed by a Florida-registered online notary, because the registration under § 117.225 is separate from a notary commission and ours are standard commissions.

What does a remote online notarization cost?

The online notary's cost, passed through on the closing statement as a notary line. An in-office closing carries no such line. Ask us on the file and we will price the actual session.

Which platform do you use?

Whichever one the underwriter accepts for the file; we have closed on BlueNotary and on Proof among others. A lender may require a particular platform, which is why we ask about it at intake.

Is remote online notarization the same as e-signing?

No. An e-signature is the signature itself. Remote online notarization is the notarial act, performed over audio-video with identity verification and a recorded session, by a notary the state has registered to perform it.

Can a power of attorney be signed by remote online notarization?

A power of attorney is one of the documents § 117.285 attaches extra screening requirements to, so it can be, with those steps. A power of attorney used to convey Florida real estate also has to be executed the way a deed is, with two witnesses. Tell us early if one is planned.