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life happens an emergency can pop up at any time disrupting important deadlines so what can you do if a client urgently needs a notarization but can't appear in person many states allow what's called a proof of execution by subscribing witness while rare these requests are likely to come up with real estate transactions and corporate documents the procedure is simple a client signs their document in front of the subscribing witness and then the subscribing witness not the client gets the document notarized the notary administers an oath or affirmation to the subscribing witness in which they swear that they watch the client sign the document the witness signs the proof of execution by subscribing witness then the notary completes the notarization using the wording required by your state while you must be careful when performing any notarization you should take extra care if you're asked to complete a proof of execution here's why the potential for fraud exists when a document signer cannot be positively identified that's why states like washington and georgia do not allow proofs of execution and it's for this reason that there are many restrictions where proofs are allowed now if your state does allow proofs of execution be aware that the devil's in the details some states for example only allow proofs for certain real estate documents in others real estate documents are absolutely not allowed that's not so bad right let's take a look at a few more details in pennsylvania only licensed attorneys can serve as subscribing witnesses in tennessee and virginia two subscribing witnesses are required in texas you must use a credible witness to identify the subscribing witness unless you personally know them still with me let's keep going in california proofs are prohibited from most but not all documents affecting real property plus you cannot perform a proof of execution for documents that require a thumbprint in the notary journal and then there's florida where proofs of execution are technically allowed sort of no really proofs are mentioned in the state real estate law and that's all there's no information about how to do them speaking of which here's one more thing to know your state rules for proofs of execution might be in notary statutes real estate statutes and an obscure part of the state law or any combination of the above luckily requests for proofs of execution are rare most notaries will never perform one in their careers if you get a request a good rule of thumb is to check whether your state allows proofs and what's required before you accept but if you're still not comfortable performing one it's okay to turn it down i hope you found this overview about proofs of execution helpful as always if you have a specific notary question please call the nna hotline [Music] you