Innovation in Law Practice
| Publication year | 2021 |
| Pages | 33 |
January, 2020
Utah’s New Remote Notary and Electronic Wills Laws
By Steve Chambers
In 2019, the Remote Notary Act (Utah Code sections 46-1-1 to 46-1-23) became effective, allowing notaries to perform their duties remotely through electronic means. On August 31, 2020, the Electronic Wills Act, a response to COVID-19, also became effective, permitting wills to be executed remotely as well. Here’s a summary of the two new laws.
A Brief History of Electronic Signatures in Utah
Utah entered the electronic transaction age way back in 2000 with the passage of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, Utah Code sections 46-4-101 to -503 (UETA). This was a necessity given the growing e-commerce industry. UETA authorized and validated the electronic click-throughs of online purchasing, especially online applications for credit cards. But UETA went beyond that and authorized parties to conduct business electronically so long as they have agreed to. The parties’ agreement to conduct business electronically is determined by the context, the parties’ conduct, and the circumstances. In the only reported Utah case construing UETA, VT Holdings LLC v. My Investing Place LLC, 2019 UT App 37, 440 P.3d 767, the court of appeals affirmed the trial court, which found that the parties’ conduct showed an agreement to conduct business electronically by way of faxing a fully executed Request for Reconveyance that resulted in the release of a trust deed. The court said:
Here, there is sufficient evidence to support the district court’s factual finding that RCF and VT Holdings had agreed to conduct business electronically. The court found that Moak accepted an email from RCF’s paralegal with the Request for Reconveyance attached. Both Moak and Scott signed the Request for Reconveyance and notarized their signatures. Moak then faxed the Request for Reconveyance back to RCF without stating any conditions or otherwise informing RCF that the Request for Reconveyance was not intended to be effective. The court found that “the lack of a valid reason why everyone would go to the trouble of preparing [the Request for Reconveyance], get it signed, get it notarized, and arrange to return it [electronically], for no legal effect,” is the “primary weakness” of VT Holdings’ argument.
Id. ¶ 21 (alterations in original).
While UETA and this case establish the principle that significant business transactions beyond purchases from Amazon can be conducted online, they do not reach the issue of a true electronic signature in the sense that lawyers are now familiar with, the “/s/ John Doe” that we affix to pleadings.
The legislature took another step in that direction in 2014 with passage of the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act, Utah Code sections 17-21a-101 to -403 (URPERA). This act permits the recording of documents with electronic signatures. Under...
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