Asked in Communications Law, Contracts and Internet Law

Q: Can I sign a document with a digital signature without putting my e-signature. Is that legally valid?

1 Lawyer Answer

A: This is a developing area of law, and the answers may change, but, from the time miners and farmers signed documents with an X because they were illiterate, a signature has always been whatever you intend to be your signature. I have switched to letting clients sign retainers via unencrypted email so long as they "sign" them as they would sign their emails. Courts fairly uniformly accept "/s/" on signature lines from lawyers in electronically filed documents. I do sometimes cut and paste a replica of my signature on documents, but I do that to make the document look more official. I've considered but haven't decided that the practice risks exposing my actual signature to forgery, but that would be true if I signed on a piece of paper, too. There has not been universal acceptance of more formalized e-signatures, and past attempts of that nature, like encrypted email, have failed. Your signature is created by the expression of your intent to sign, though the person accepting that signature may decline or even require a notarized signature.

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