Electronic Signatures

Electronic Signatures
The Uniform Electronic Transaction Act provides legal status to paperless online transactions. Electronic signatures have the same legal authority as written signatures in pen and ink on paper. With some exceptions, this means that parties who mutually agree can conduct business electronically, and electronic records, signatures and contracts will be legally enforceable. The law allows admissibility of electronic records in a court of law. All items currently required by law to be made in writing can be done electronically, as long as the recipient is able to print or store an electronic version. Electronic documents in some areas, such as landlord-tenant notice procedures, cannot replace physical documents. The law required that by January 1, 2002, all Florida counties have an index of all recorded documents on a publicly available Web site. The documents had to be online and retrievable by January 1, 2006.
Excluded from this act are transactions relating to portions of the Uniform Commercial Code, transactions overseen by the Uniform Computer Transaction Act, and rules relating to judicial procedure. FS § 475.5018: When any act performed under this part must be performed in writing or acknowledged with a signature, the provision of an instrument of writing by electronic means or facsimile, including a signature transmitted by electronic means or facsimile, is binding and sufficient.