A witness is an individual who personally observes an event take place.
The Proof platform with the Notarize Network supports various types of witnesses who may participate in a notarization or another type of secure transaction.
Available types of witnesses
Click a link below to learn more about that witness type.
- Credible identifying witness: A credible identifying witness vouches for the identity of a signer after successfully completing identity verification.
- Document witness: A document witness is an individual who watches another individual sign a document.
- Florida property remote witness: A Florida property remote witness is personally known to the notary and observes the execution of a document by a person who is in the witness's electronic presence but not the witness's physical presence.
- Remote on-demand witness: A notary may be able to call an on-demand witness if needed.
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.
Unavailable types of witnesses
The following two types of witnesses are not available on the Proof platform.
Signature witness (proxy signer): A signature witness is a notary who witnesses or observes someone signing a document as an official notarial act.
This is different from a document witness and relative uncommon. An affirmation or jurat is often performed instead of a signature witnessing.
An easy way to recognize when a signature witness is required is to check the notarial certificate. If it says "Signed (or attested) before me…," it's a signature witnessing.
Subscribing witness (attestation): Also known as an attestation, a subscribing witness watches the signing of a document and then appears before a notary in the principal signer's place to "attest" that the absent principal party willingly signed the document.
Some states do not allow subscribing witnesses due to the high potential for fraud.
Alternatively, the representative signer feature may meet the needs of those who need to have someone sign a document on their behalf.