NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 6, 2020 — NotaryCam® Founder and CEO Rick Triola today applauded the Florida legislature for passing HB 409, which went into effect on January 1, 2020. The bill authorizes online notarizations and specifies requirements and standards for performance of such online notarizations.
Florida represents a great use case for remote online notarization (RON) due to its high vacation, retirement-age and transient populations, as well as the prevalence of international home buyers and investors. Under Florida HB 409, notaries physically located in Florida will be able to perform RONs, regardless of whether the principal or any witnesses are physically located in Florida at the time of the online notarization.
“Florida consistently ranks in the top five nationwide in terms of mortgage origination volume, making it quite a milestone to have a state of this size and importance to the mortgage industry legalize RON,” said Triola. “Not only does this change enable out-of-state buyers and sellers to close a real estate transaction without needing to be physically located in the state of Florida, but it also eliminates all the associated and unnecessary friction with mail-away closings, such as transaction delays, overnight delivery charges and missing signatures, initials and/or pages from the final closing package. With 56 of the 66 counties in Florida allowing eRecording, it’s now easier than ever to complete a real estate transaction in Florida.”
The bill also addresses electronic wills (eWills) and clarifies that eWills can be signed with an electronic signature. NotaryCam completed its first remote electronic will in April 2019 in Nevada with a Nevada attorney, testator, notary and witnesses attending online from different locations and is preparing to roll out similar functionality in Florida.
“By expanding the capabilities of eWills and legalizing RON, Florida has provided its 21 million residents with the capability to efficiently execute two of life’s biggest events,” Triola continued. “NotaryCam is thrilled to be working closely with Florida trust and estate planning attorneys and real estate professionals to deliver RON and eWill capabilities to their respective clients, and we are equally as enthusiastic to help Florida notaries make the transition to RON.”
To date, NotaryCam has paid out more than $3 million in commissions to notaries throughout the U.S. and is seeking hard-working notarial professionals to expand its growing national network. For more information on becoming an eNotary with NotaryCam, visit https://www.notarycam.com/notarycam-application/.