Electronic signing and online witnessing of legal documents

Many legal documents need to be signed and/or witnessed. In the past, this often meant that handwritten signatures were needed, and witnesses had to be present in person.

Changes to Victorian law mean that for most legal documents, there are now more options:

This can make it more convenient. You can use online video-conferencing platforms such as Skype or Zoom.

Of course, you can still sign and witness documents using existing methods. It does not have to be done online.

Important:

While most legal documents can be electronically signed and witnessed online:

On this page

Changes to the legislation

The Justice Legislation Amendment (System Enhancements and Other Matters) Act 2021 (External link) made changes to several pieces of legislation that cover how legal documents must be signed and witnessed in Victoria.

See the table below for the affected Acts and types of documents they cover:

Documents that are defined as a ‘transaction’ within the Act, including:

*Changes to the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000 mean that deeds can now be considered as transactions. They can be in electronic form and ‘signed, sealed and delivered’ by electronic communication, under Victorian law.

Electronic signatures

There is no one way to electronically sign a document. For example, you can:

The party who is to receive the document must agree to the use of an electronic signature for it to be valid. They may choose not to consent for a number of reasons, such as being concerned about the integrity of a document. However, just being reluctant to use an electronic signature is not a sufficient reason.

Physical location of participants

For most legal documents, signatories and witnesses may be physically located outside of Victoria.

However, all participants must be located in Victoria during the witnessing process for:

During the online witnessing process, one or more witnesses can be present physically, while others are present via audio visual link.

Existing responsibilities for witnesses are not changed by online witnessing

Witnesses have existing duties under the law when they witness a legal document. They must ensure their existing obligations are compatible with witnessing by audio visual link.

For example, a witness must:

If a witness is not able to satisfy themselves of these matters by audio visual link, they should not execute the document online.

Special witnesses

When some legal documents are witnessed by audio visual link, one witness must act as a ‘special witness’.

A special witness must be:

A special witness is required for:

You can learn about the requirements of special witnesses on the following pages:

How to witness legal documents online by audio-visual link

The Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000 provides requirements for witnessing documents by audio visual link:

An example of this statement is:

The requirements for witnessing by audio-visual link under section 12 of the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000 have been met.

Witnesses do not need to be physically located in Victoria to witness a document via audio visual link under the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000, unless they are required to be in Victoria by another applicable Victorian law.

Some legal documents have special requirements

While the process is similar, some legal documents covered by other Acts have special requirements for online witnessing.

You can find detailed information for:

Mortgages and other instruments to be lodged with the Registrar of Titles at Land Use Victoria

Most mortgages, as well as a range of other documents relating to land use and ownership, must be lodged with Land Use Victoria. These documents are sometimes known as ‘instruments’.

Changes to the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000 confirm that mortgages can be in electronic form. However, this Act also exempts any instrument that must be lodged with Land Use Victoria from the electronic signing and witnessing measures.

This means that any document that needs to be lodged with the Registrar of Titles at Land Use Victoria must still:

For more information on lodging documents at Land Use Victoria (External link) please visit their website.

Types of documents that cannot be electronically signed and/or witnessed online

The following types of legal documents have been exempted from the new measures in the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000.

Advance care directives

An advance care directive:

You can learn more about advance care directives by visiting:

Arrangements in relation to voluntary assisted dying

Any arrangement in relation to voluntary assisted dying:

You can learn more about arrangements in relation to voluntary assisted dying by visiting:

Tell me about.