eWitness Documents

Electronic witnessing from Legalesign

The eWitness feature can be used for contracts or documents that require a witness’ signature, which gives further evidential weight to the eSignature process.

Electronic Witness evidence is often a difficult topic in courts, and this is why we’ve developed the eWitness functionality following Law Society guidance. Apart from the witness being present at the time an eSignature is validly applied, all eSigning and eWitness related events are recorded on the audit log, which is unique for each document.

Is eWitnessing legal in the UK?

Where there is a requirement for a deed to be signed "in the presence of a witness", the Law Commissions view is that the witness must be physically present. See full report published on 4th September on electronic execution of documents.

How does eWitnessing works?

Once the document reaches its intended recipient and the esigning is complete, the signer is asked to pass over control to the witness. The simplest form of eWitnessing is to confirm to have observed the signing by placing a witness signature. More complex types of eWitnessing involve the sender to designate fields for an eWitness to complete such as full name, address or other details.