Learn how to prepare a document to require a witness for a real estate transaction. A witness is an additional person who is not a party to the transaction and is present to witness the signing of the specific document.
You can set up the transaction to require a witness, or the notary can add a witness during a meeting.
❗Proof does not provide any legal advice, including advice about witness requirements.
Who can require witnesses
Any user in your organization with an owner, admin, team member, and sender role can perform the action below.
Requirements
- Signers have two options to provide witnesses:
- Bring their own witness(es) if the witness is in the same physical location (read about the exceptions for Florida real estate transactions here).
- Utilize the On-Demand Witness feature.
- Notaries can act as one of the witnesses for Florida real estate transactions; read Witness Options - Florida Real Estate Transactions.
- The signer is responsible for ensuring that the witnesses meet any state or document-specific requirements.
- For example, if 2 witnesses are required, the signer is responsible for ensuring there are 2 witnesses.
- Witnesses should be prepared to show a valid photo ID.
ℹ️ A total of ten (10) devices can connect to a meeting. One must be a notary and one must be a signer; the rest can be any combination of participants (signers, real estate contacts, etc.), with a maximum of 2 witnesses.
What to expect
To use the On-Demand Witness service: The notary calls the witness from the Notarize Network.
To use the signer's witness: The notary adds a witness and a form appears on the signer's screen for the witness to complete with their information.
Require a witness
After you upload and prepare your document:
- Check the box under the eye icon to require a witness
This requirement can be different for each uploaded document. If you have multiple documents in one transaction, select the witness option only for the document that requires the witness.