MD Executive Order 20-03-30-04 (Remote Notarization)
Executive Order
State: Maryland
Signed: March 31, 2020
Effective: March 31, 2020
SummaryMaryland Governor Lawrence Hogan has issued an executive order temporarily authorizing Notaries to perform notarial acts for remotely located individuals during the COVID-19 state of emergency and the proclamation of the catastrophic health emergency.
AffectsAll Maryland Notaries Public.
Changes
- Defines "communication technology" as an electronic device or process that enables a Notary visually to in real time, view the individual and compare for consistency the information and photos on identification credentials.
- Provides that an individual need not be in the physical presence of a Notary who performs a notarial act if the individual and Notary communicate with each other simultaneously by sight and sound through communication technology.
- Provides that in order to perform a remote notarial act a Notary must be appointed and commissioned to perform a notarial act and must notify the Secretary of State of the Notary's intention to perform notarial acts facilitated by communication technologies, and identify the communication technologies the Notary intends to use.
- Provides that in order to perform a remote notarial act a Notary must identify the individual requesting the notarial act through (a) The Notary's personal knowledge of the individual for whom the act is performed; (b) By means of a government identification credential, which may be remotely presented, that is issued to the individual and contains the signature and photograph of the individual; or (c) Through the verification on oath or verification by a credible witness.
- Requires a credible witness who identifies a remotely located individual to: (a) Personally appear before the notarial officer; (b) Be known to the notarial officer; or be identified by the notarial officer using a passport, driver's license, consular identification, or government-issued identification card, which may be remotely presented.
- Requires the Notary to confirm that the remotely located individual made a statement or executed a signature on the same record before the Notary.
- Requires the Notary to create, or direct another person to create, and retain an audiovisual recording of the performance of the notarial act.
- Requires the Notary to indicate on a certificate of the notarial act and in a journal that the remotely located individual was not in the physical presence of the Notary and the notarial act was performed using communication technology.
AnalysisMaryland Governor Hogan has issued an executive order authorizing Maryland Notaries to perform notarial acts for remotely located individuals during the state of emergency and the proclamation of the catastrophic health emergency and until the orders have been rescinded or rescinded, superseded, amended, or revised by additional orders.
Read Executive Order 20-03-30-04.
On September 29, 2020, Governor Hogan issued Executive Order 20-09-29-01, effective on October 1, 2020. The order restated and amended Order 20-03-30-04 to allow communication technology to be used for wills and trusts, and extended the temporary authorization until the termination of the state of emergency.
On June 15, 2021, Governor Hogan issued Executive Order 21-06-15-01, establishing August 15, 2021, as the expiration date of Order 20-09-29-01. The authority to perform notarial acts for remotely located individuals expired without renewal on August 15, 2021.