{"id":150,"date":"2020-04-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/teit\/2020\/04\/08\/governor-wolf-approves-temporary-limited-suspension-of-rule-requiring-physical-presence-of-notaries-for-estate-planning-documents\/"},"modified":"2020-04-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-08T00:00:00","slug":"governor-wolf-approves-temporary-limited-suspension-of-rule-requiring-physical-presence-of-notaries-for-estate-planning-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/teit\/estate-planning-basics\/governor-wolf-approves-temporary-limited-suspension-of-rule-requiring-physical-presence-of-notaries-for-estate-planning-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor Wolf Approves Temporary Limited Suspension of Rule Requiring Physical Presence of Notaries for Estate Planning Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On April 2, 2020, Pennsylvania Governor Wolf approved a temporary and limited suspension of current law 57 Pa.C.S. \u00a7 306, which requires the physical presence of notaries, for estate planning documents that require notarization or for which notarization is considered best practice.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Estate Planning Documents<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Estate planning documents that require notarization under current Pennsylvania law are powers of attorney (20 Pa.C.S. \u00a75601), self-executing wills (20 Pa.C.S. \u00a73132.1), and temporary guardianships (23 Pa.C.S. \u00a75621).<\/p>\n<p>Estate planning documents for which notarization is considered best practice in Pennsylvania consist of advanced health care directives\/powers of attorney (20 Pa.C.S. \u00a75452), living wills (20 Pa.C.S \u00a75442), and temporary and standby guardianships (23 Pa.C.S. \u00a75611).<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Audio-Visual Technology<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Per Governor Wolf\u2019s recent temporary suspension of certain of these laws, Pennsylvania notaries may now use audio-visual technology rather than in-person notary procedures for estate planning documents, subject to the following safeguards:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Notaries must execute all notarial acts (including acknowledgments) in accordance with all other requirements of the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts.<\/li>\n<li>Safeguards, such as identity verification, use of tamper-evident technology, and an audio-video recording of the notarial act, as contemplated by the Uniform Law Commission\u2019s amendment to the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts and the recent Remote Online Notarization legislation, must still be observed.<\/li>\n<li>A Pennsylvania notary using audio-visual technology in lieu of personal appearance is required to:\n<ul>\n<li>Become an approved Pennsylvania electronic notary by <a href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/teit\/1699\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">completing this free application online<\/a>;<\/li>\n<li>Use one of the pre-approved e-notary solutions identified by the Pennsylvania Department of State that provide remote notarization technology (Doc-Verify, Safe-Docs, Pavaso); and<\/li>\n<li>Include in the notary certificate that the notarial act was performed by means of communications technology, which can be satisfied by the following statement &#8211; \u201cThis notarial act involved the use of communication technology.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you have any questions about the information contained in this blog or any related questions, please feel free to contact <a href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/teit\/808\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Barbara Hollenbach<\/a> at <a href=\"mailto:bhollenbach@norris-law.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bhollenbach@norris-law.com<\/a>. Should you have questions regarding your need to sign Pennsylvania estate planning documents remotely without a notary public present, please email <a href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/teit\/372\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Judith Harris<\/a>, Co-Chair of the <a href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/teit\/366\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Norris McLaughlin Trusts, Estates, and Individual Tax Law Practice Group<\/a>, at <a href=\"mailto:jharris@norris-law.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">jharris@norris-law.com<\/a>. For other topics related to COVID-19, visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/teit\/432\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coronavirus Thought Leadership Connection<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>The information contained in this post may not reflect the most current developments, as the subject matter is extremely fluid and constantly changing. Please continue to monitor this site for ongoing <\/em><em>developments. Readers are also cautioned against taking any action based on information contained herein without first seeking advice from professional legal counsel<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On April 2, 2020, Pennsylvania Governor Wolf approved a temporary and limited suspension of current law 57 Pa.C.S. \u00a7 306, which requires the physical presence of notaries, for estate planning documents that require notarization or for which notarization is considered best practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10,110,11,12,4],"tags":[109,19,114],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.1 (Yoast SEO v22.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Governor Wolf Approves Temporary Limited Suspension of Rule Requiring Physical Presence of Notaries for Estate Planning Documents - Trusts, Estates, and Tax<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/teit\/estate-planning-basics\/governor-wolf-approves-temporary-limited-suspension-of-rule-requiring-physical-presence-of-notaries-for-estate-planning-documents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Governor Wolf Approves Temporary Limited Suspension of Rule Requiring Physical Presence of Notaries for Estate Planning Documents\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On April 2, 2020, Pennsylvania Governor Wolf approved a temporary and limited suspension of current law 57 Pa.C.S. \u00a7 306, which requires the physical presence of notaries, for estate planning documents that require notarization or for which notarization is considered best practice.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/teit\/estate-planning-basics\/governor-wolf-approves-temporary-limited-suspension-of-rule-requiring-physical-presence-of-notaries-for-estate-planning-documents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Trusts, Estates, and Tax\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-08T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/teit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2022\/12\/Will-Document-Computer.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"636\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"386\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Barbara L. 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