Relating to remote presence for purposes of notarial acts and executing wills and codicils, and including retroactive applicability provisions

This bill relates to remote presence for purposes of notarial acts and executing wills and codicils. The bill requires that if a notary elects to use identity proofing for purposes of performing notarial acts for remotely located individuals, the identity proofing must conform to the standards established by the secretary of state. For purposes of executing wills and codicils, the bill defines the term “presence” to mean any manner, physical or electronic, in which the witness and testator can see and hear the acts of each other in real time. The bill provides when a will or codicil is executed using remote signing, the original document may be executed in one or more counterparts by parties located in different locations, which may be aggregated to comprise the complete will or codicil. The bill provides that any will or codicil executed using remote signing procedures between April 2, 2020, and February 15, 2022, shall be deemed to satisfy the presence requirements, pursuant to the governor’s proclamation of disaster emergency. This provision of the bill is retroactively applicable to April 2, 2020.