Legislation
State: Connecticut
Signed: June 12, 2023
Effective: October 01, 2023
Chapter: Public Act No. 23-28
SummaryConnecticut, one of the last states without a remote online notarization statute, has remedied that by enacting Senate Bill 1040.
Affects
Adds an as yet uncodified new section to, and amends Sections 1-31a, 1-37, and 47-7 of, the Connecticut General Statutes.
Changes
Definitions
- Defines “communication technology,” “identity proofing, “outside the United States,” and “remotely located individual.”
Remote Notarization Requirements
- Subject to the exceptions noted below, authorizes a document to be notarized for an individual who is not in the physical presence of the Notary Public at the time of the notarization if the individual and the Notary can communicate simultaneously, in real time, by sight and sound using communication technology.
- Requires a Notary Public to reasonably identify a remotely located individual at the time of notarization by one or more of the following methods: (a) Personal knowledge of the identity of the individual; (b) The individual presents a government-issued identification document or record that has not expired, contains the individual's photograph, name and signature and includes, but is not limited to, a driver's license, government-issued identification card or passport; (c) Not less than two different types of identity proofing processes or services by which a third person provides a means to verify the identity of the individual through a review of public or private data sources; or (d) The oath or affirmation by a credible witness who is s in the physical presence of either the Notary or the individual; or is able to communicate in real time with the Notary and the individual by sight and sound through an electronic device or process at the time of the notarization, if the credible witness has personal knowledge of the identity of the individual and has been reasonably identified by the Notary by a method provided in this paragraph.
- Provides that when an individual who is physically located outside of Connecticut or the United States seeks a remote notarization, the record being notarized must: (a) Be intended for filing or presentation in a matter before a court, governmental entity, public official or other entity subject to the jurisdiction of the state of Connecticut; (b) Involve property located in the territorial jurisdiction of the state of Connecticut or a transaction substantially connected to the state of Connecticut; or (c) Otherwise not be prohibited by law of the state of Connecticut to be notarized outside the state.
- Provides that once the record notarized is signed by the individual in accordance with the procedures set forth in the new section, the individual must mail or otherwise cause to be delivered the signed original copy of the record to the Notary Public for certification and execution with the Notary's commission signature and official stamp or seal.
- Clarifies that date and time of a notarization conducted pursuant to #2 and #3 above shall be the date and time when the Notary witnessed the signature being performed by means of communication technology.
- Clarifies that nothing in the new section shall affect the authority of a Notary Public to refuse to perform a notarial act or require a Notary Public to perform a notarization remotely: (a) With respect to an electronic record; (b) For an individual not in the physical presence of the Notary; or (c) Using a technology that the Notary has not selected.
Rules
- Authorizes the Secretary of the State to adopt regulations in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes regarding the performance of a notarial act pursuant to the new section.
- Clarifies that the regulations may: (a) Prescribe the means of performing a notarial act involving a remotely located individual using communication technology; (b) Establish standards for communication technology and identity proofing; or (c) Establish requirements or procedures to approve providers of communication technology and the process of identity proofing.
- Requires the Secretary of the State when adopting or amending regulations to consider: (a) The most recent standards regarding the performance of a notarial act with respect to a remotely located individual promulgated by national standard-setting organizations and the recommendations of the National Association of Secretaries of State; (b) Standards, practices and customs of other jurisdictions that have laws substantially similar to the new section; and (c) The views of governmental officials and entities and other interested persons.
Exceptions
- Prohibits the following records from being acknowledged remotely in (a) the making and execution of a will, codicil, trust or trust instrument, (b) the execution of health care instructions pursuant to GS 19a-575a, (c) the execution of a designation of a standby guardian pursuant to GS 45a-624, (d) the execution of a designation of a person for decision-making and certain rights and obligations pursuant to GS 1-56r, (e) the execution of a living will, as defined in GS 19a-570, (f) the execution of a power of attorney, as defined in GS 1-350a, (g) the execution of a self-proving affidavit for an appointment of health care representative or for a living will under GS 1-56r and 19a-578, (h) the execution of a mutual distribution agreement under GS 45a-433, (i) the execution of a disclaimer under GS 45a-479 or 45a-583, or (j) a real estate closing, as defined in GS 51-88a.
- Provides that the performance of any such acknowledgment in connection with any of the acts described in #1 above shall be ineffective for any purpose and shall constitute a violation of GS 51-88.
Interstate Recognition, Validity, and Legal Effect
- Denies interstate recognition to an any acknowledgment made by a remotely located individual, as defined in the new section of Public Act 23-28, in the conduct of a real estate closing, as defined in GS 51-88a.
- Denies validity to any conveyance of real estate situated in Connecticut, or any mortgage or release of mortgage or lien upon any real estate situated in Connecticut, executed by a remotely located individual, as defined in the new section of Public Act 23-28, in the conduct of a real estate closing, as defined in section 51-88a.
- Denies that any acknowledgment made outside Connecticut by a remotely located individual in compliance with the manner and form prescribed by the laws of the place of its execution, as defined in the new section of Public Act 23-28, in the conduct of a real estate closing, as defined in GS 51-88a, has the same effect as an acknowledgment in the manner and form prescribed by the laws of Connecticut for instruments executed within Connecticut.
AnalysisConnecticut, one of the last states without a remote notarization law, enacts one with Senate Bill 1040. Unfortunately, however, the bill is lacking on several fronts. First, it is unclear whether a remote notarization can be performed with electronic documents, because one provision speaks of the remotely located individual mailing the “original” document to the Notary after the audio-visual communication conference has concluded. Second, the new law does not require Notaries to keep an audio-visual recording of the remote notarization. Third, the new law severely limits the applicability of remote notarization by disallowing most of the important types of documents that one would want to be notarized using a remote notarization. Fourth and most important, Senate Bill 1040 denies interstate recognition of remotely notarized records by Notaries and notarial officers of other states for documents related to real estate and a real estate closing. The potential harm of this restriction cannot be understated. It turns on its head the existing legal interstate recognition framework that has been in place for hundreds of years. Consumers who have had validly notarized real property documents affecting property in Connecticut remotely notarized by a Notary of another jurisdiction will wonder why they had their documents notarized in the first place and will ask why notarization is even required if it means their document won’t be legally valid in Connecticut.
Read Senate Bill 1040.