Witness of legal documents over video extended
The witnessing of important legal documents over video conference will now continue until the end of 2021, under new legislation to be introduced into NSW Parliament.
The new legislation seeks to continue arrangements introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce non-essential personal contact. These arrangements allow a witness to see the signatory signing a document in real time over an audio-visual link (AVL).
Under the extension, a witness will be able to sign a document, or a copy of the document, to confirm they witnessed the signatory’s signature via AVL. This could be done on a hard copy which is scanned and sent to the witness or on an identical counterpart of the document the signatory signs.
Traditional methods of signing and witnessing these documents will remain in place.