What West Palm Beach sends me
The requests that come most often from this part of Florida:
- Powers of attorney and estate documents prepared by an attorney.
- Affidavits for insurers, pensions and benefits.
- Property paperwork for owners who spend the summer north.
- Company documents and shareholder representation.
- Documents heading to Canada, Europe and Latin America.
Worth knowing in West Palm Beach
Seasonal residents are the pattern here, and a document that has to be signed in June often has to be signed from New York, Toronto or Milan rather than from Florida.
Estate documents usually carry extra formalities, because Florida wants two witnesses as well as a notary on a power of attorney, and an online session can provide them.
If the signer is elderly or unwell, Florida adds protections to online sessions with a vulnerable adult, which normally means having a witness present with them, so tell me the situation when you book.
How an online session works
You book a time, and I send a secure link, usually for the same day or the next, and the platform then checks your identification and asks a few questions drawn from public records, before we meet on video, where I confirm you understand what you are signing and that nobody is pressuring you.
You sign electronically, I complete the notarial certificate, and you download the finished document with its seal and audit trail, all of which normally takes about fifteen minutes.
What you need
- A phone, tablet or computer with a camera and microphone.
- A current, government-issued photo ID.
- The document, complete and unsigned.
- Confirmation from the office receiving it that they accept an electronic notarization.
In person, honestly
I am based in Lakeland and travel inside Polk County, so I do not drive to West Palm Beach for a signing, so if your document has to be signed on paper in front of a notary, look for a mobile notary there, and if it can be done online, we can start today.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you travel to West Palm Beach?
- No, I travel inside Polk County only, and everything else is done in an online session, which is valid across Florida and carries the same legal weight as signing in person.
- Is an online notarization valid here?
- Yes, Florida authorized remote online notarization in 2020, and a document notarized this way has the same effect as one notarized across a desk, though the office receiving it can still ask for paper.
- I am up north until November — can I sign from there?
- Yes, an online session works from any state or country, and the notarization is still a Florida one.
- My mother is in assisted living here — can she sign online?
- Sometimes, though Florida adds protections when the signer is a vulnerable adult, and if she cannot follow the conversation that day, no notary should proceed.