It took the Corona Virus and Social Distancing to bring us the ability to submit subdivision plats by email in pdf format in the county where I do most of my work.?ÿ We will also be able gather electronic and digital signatures once the plat has been approved (yes I understand the difference).?ÿ A bit of internet research showed me that I can use services like Adobe Sign or Docusign to add signature and date fields to each of the required plat stamps. The services allow a user to add a list of email addresses for the signers and specify which signer has to sign each field.?ÿ Once the plat is sent, it goes to the first signer, then the second and so forth until all have signed.?ÿ Then everyone gets an email of the finished plat with all signatures and additional sheets that log all of the names, dates, times and emails of all the signers.?ÿ This document is locked so that additional comments, notes or signatures can't be added without doing something like printing it as a pdf or exporting as an image an then converting it back to a pdf.
Here's where I need help.?ÿ In one jurisdiction within the county, the property owner's signature requires notarization.?ÿ I've looked at several remote notary services (legal in Tennessee) and I suspect that the document I would get back after having them notarize the owner's signature would be a locked document.?ÿ I know I could brute force that into something that I could then run through Adobe Sign or Docusign to gather the remaining signatures but I'm hoping that someone here knows a better way.?ÿ
Fine!?ÿ I'll answer my own damn question. ?????ÿ
Thanks to Brad Ott for the offline help.
Here's what I found out:
In Tennessee a remote notary is required to use a Third Party service that facilitates keeping a digital log of the documents that they've remotely notarized, the I.D. verification of the signer and a video of the transaction.?ÿ The lady I dealt with operates Smoky Mountain Notary and uses a third party service called DocVerify.?ÿ I created a test map and emailed it along with contact info for both my wife and I to the notary.?ÿ With in a few minutes we each were emailed a link asking us to verify our identity.?ÿ The third party I.D. verification involved snapping a photo of the front and back of your drivers license plus a selfie and uploading them.?ÿ It then asked for your full name, current address as shown on your DL, and last four digits of your SSN.?ÿ Then it asked a series of 4 or 5 multiple choice questions that you only had a total of 2 minutes to answer.
Once the I.D. verification process was completed, it opened a window for signature creation where it had you type your full name and initials. It also had an optional signature pad where you could create your signature with a mouse, finger, or stylus.?ÿ Then a video chat window opened where all three of us were visible.?ÿ The plat could be viewed in a window below the video chat portion of the screen. The notary went through the standard questions to be sure we were signing of our own free will then she added the signature fields to the document.?ÿ Bars then popped up at the bottom of our screens where we could review the certifications we were about to sign on the plat.?ÿ After review, you clicked to sign and your signature was added to the certification.?ÿ This step was repeated once for each certification that I needed to sign. Once both my wife and I were finished reviewing and signing each of the certs, the notary did her part, and then the connection was broken.?ÿ?ÿWithin seconds we each had an email with the notarized document attached.
Like the Adobe Sign process I described in the OP, this process resulted in a pdf that had an additional page added for log purposes with names, emails and tracking info for the transaction.?ÿ The Adobe Sign files are locked in a way that only allows changes if you employ brute force methods.?ÿ Fortunately DocVerify's pdf is done in a way that still allows me to run it through Adobe Sign and get additional signatures without having to first beat it into submission.
An unexpected result but I'm a happy camper.
