Frequently Asked Questions

Acceptable forms of ID in Washington State include IDs and passports, driver's licenses, or state IDs that:

• A federal or state government has issued.
• ID or passport has to be current (expired IDs won't be accepted).
• ID or passport must have the individual's photo, physical description, and signature.

RON is the designated acronym for "Remote Online Notary".   RON transactions occur when a signing party utilizes audio-visual technology via an established internet communication network to appear before a properly commissioned notary at the time of the scheduled notarization. Remote online notarization is also referred to as webcam notarization, online notarization or virtual notarization.

Electronic Notarization, often referred to as E Notarization, is not the same as RON.      The Electronic Notarization is essentially the same as the traditional in person notary transaction and involves documents that are notarized in electronic form with all parties appearing physically in the same room.

The Securing and Enabling Commerce Using Remote and Electronic (SECURE) Notarization Act of 2021 (H.R. 3962) is currently being considered by the United States Congress and it would authorize the use of remote online notarization and create national standards and protections for its use.   As of fall 2022, there are forty three states that have enacted laws allowing RON:    Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Yes.     The acceptance of remote online notarizations, with enhanced security features,  is growing within several industries and legal institutions.       This growth continues  because notarial, transactional and security requirements need to be facilitated from any location at any time.     

Online notarizations are accepted across the United States due to a long-standing body of laws in each state that specifically provides for recognition and acceptance of out-of-state notarizations. In addition to laws in each state recognizing and accepting common out-of-state notarizations, the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the US Constitution may provide an additional basis for states to accept out of state notarizations.

Certain states and public agencies have specific additional requirements and limitations for executing and/or accepting electronically-signed documents and out-of-state notarizations, and not all documents may be electronically-signed. 

It is best practice to familiarize yourself with specific document requirements and seek appropriate legal counsel or have the intended document recipient  confirm their acceptance of online notarizations.

The RON Signer/Witness Identity verification is more stringent than a traditional face to face notary meeting would be.      The credential analysis process is more intensive and could be considered an additional security layer for document integrity purposes.    Signing parties will be asked to provide government issued identification, either on camera live or by submitting an image copy to a third party validation service.      After the document is validated as authentic, then document ownership is confirmed through a process known as Knowledge Based Authentication (KBA).        The KBA utilizes a series of five questions drawn from U.S. Public Records for that particular individual.     Signers are given two chances to answer correctly at least four of the five questions during a two minute interval.      Signers are given two chances to pass the questioning.  If they are unsuccessfull  are unable to successfully answer the questioning, they will be locked out of the system for 24 hours.

Very young adults, the elderly, foreign principal signers, business entities/investors or people without current home addresses may either find the KBA process to be overly challenging or may not have sufficient records data to conduct adequate questioning.     If a signer anticipates a problem with passing a KBA, then they should contact us at info@fivednotary.com  to enquire about a work around solution.    It is possible have  a "Credible Witness" that personally knows the Signer and can attest to the Signers identity.    The Credible Witness must be able to pass the KBA test and have known the Signer for a significant period of time.

Very young adults, the elderly, foreign principal signers, business entities/investors, people without current home addresses or other individuals may not be able to successfully participate in the KBA process  but still would like to obtain a RON document notarization.       In this instance they may call about a Credible Witness to provide identify verification and circumvent the KBA process entirely.

The Credible Witness:

• Is competent to give evidence, and is worthy of belief.
• Will be a reference for ID Proofing
• Will affirm and swear that:
  1.  They personally know the signer, for how long and how they know each other
  2.  The Signer faces challenges with the KBA process
  3.  They have no interest in the document which is being signed.