Overview
Many agreements (such as tax documents, land registry, powers of attorney, transfers of assets, and so on) require that the recipient sign their agreement in the presence of a witness. The witness can be almost any party physically present to observe the signer's application of their signature.
Acrobat Sign provides a selectable "role" in the configuration process that inserts a "signer" recipient with an associated "witness" recipient that the signer must define.
- Before the signer can review the agreement, they must provide the witness's name and email address.
- After the signer completes their signature process, the witness receives an email requesting their attestation to the witnessing of the signature process. The witness is asked to review their name and email address before they can interact with the agreement.
- Additional fields can be assigned to the witness to capture any information your compliance requirements demand.
Availability:
The Sign with Witness role is available for enterprise license plans only.
Configuration scope:
The witness role can be enabled at the account and group levels.
A "witness" is different than a "notary public."
A "witness" can be any person who is:
- of majority
- of sound mind
- an independent, non-biased person who is not a party to the agreement
- physically present at the time the signer applies their signature to the agreement
Witnesses may not be paid for the act of witnessing the signature process.
A "notary public" is typically a type of witness that is commissioned by a governing body (such as the State). The notarization process tends to be considerably more formal insofar as documenting the identity of the signer and usually requires a fee for processing.
E-notary services are also available through Acrobat Sign.
Work with your legal department to confirm if a witness or a notary is the requirement for your compliance demands.
How senders add an e-witness to an agreement
Once the role is enabled, senders can find the Sign with Witness role listed in the Role selector on the Compose page.
When a signer selects the Sign with Witness role, an additional record is added below the recipient's record to identify that a witness is required and that the signer will provide the details for the witness.
Due to the nature of the witnessing process and how the witnesses are indexed, only a sequential signature flow is supported.
The Sign with Witness option isn't currently available in the new Request Signature experience.
Phone authentication is available for use cases where a second-factor One-Time Password (OTP) is required for the witness (e.g., HMLR deeds).
Phone authentication is configured by the sender when composing the agreement, but the sender isn't asked to provide the witness's phone number. The signer provides the phone number of the witness when they identify them.
The witness is required to use a mobile phone to authenticate, and a text message is delivered (the phone call option is suppressed).
If a landline is used, an error is displayed informing the witness that they must use a mobile phone.
The check to ensure the phone is a mobile device is in development and expected to be available in the March 2024 release.
Second-factor OTP witness authentication is optional in the sender's interface but may be required for your business use. Check with your legal team to understand your compliance obligation.
Private messages may also be added for the witness:
Designing custom send workflows
Users who design custom sending workflows can find the Signer with Witness option when selecting a new recipient in the recipient flow chart.
Setting the Signer with Witness role installs both the signer (Recipient) and the witness (Witness Recipient) signer objects.
Configuration of witnesses in the Workflow Designer is expected to be in place for the March 2024 release. The current Insider Access version does not yet support this functionality.
Ensure that the required fields are placed on the agreement for the witness
Fields must be authored into the document where the witness's signature is required. If a signature field is not placed for the witness, one is automatically placed at the end of the document.
Some use cases may require additional information from witnesses to complete a valid witnessing. Work with your legal team to determine what information is needed. Add the fields to capture this information, assign them to the witness, and mark the fields as required.
Limited Document Visibility rules apply to witnesses like any other participant. Only the files that contain fields for the witness can be viewed.
In-app Authoring: Assigning fields to the witness
The in-application authoring environment identifies the witnesses in the signature flow order and provides color-coded identifiers for them in the Recipients list.
Text tags
Witnesses are recipients with regard to the indexing of participants. If you have two recipients that each require a witness, then:
- The first signer is _es:signer1
- The witness attached to the first signer is _es:signer2
- The second signer is _es:signer3
- The witness attached to the second signer is _es:signer4
The assignment of the text tag identifiers is consistent with the signature flow of the agreement. However, the indexing on the compose page does not account for the witnesses in the interface. (Witnesses are presented as an ancillary record of the identified recipient.)
Take the time to design and test your forms carefully to ensure the signature flow is correctly processed and participants are given access to the correct fields.
The signing recipient's experience
The signer's experience starts with an email notification that an agreement has been sent to them and that the agreement requires a witness.
After selecting the Review and Sign button and accepting the Terms of Use, the signer must provide the information for the witness. Access to the agreement is not granted until the witness information is collected.
The requested information is the witness's:
- Full name
- Email address
- Optional: Mobile phone number (if second-factor authentication for the witness is configured)
- Landline phone numbers will trigger an error for the witness.
If the signature process is terminated before the process is completed and the signature must be restarted, the witness information is lost and must be re-entered.
Note that the Confirm email field does not accept a pasted value. The email address must be typed in manually.
The witness's experience
Once the signer completes their signature, an email is sent to the witness's email address.
The witness receives an email that identifies the request for an attestation on the agreement and identifies the signer who nominated them.
After the witness selects the Review and Sign button and accepts the Terms of Use, they are requested to verify their information before being granted access to interact with the agreement.
Once access to the agreement is granted, the witness can fill in any fields required of them and apply their signature.
During the signature process, the witness may not change the name value provided by the nominating signer.
At no time does the witness have the ability to download the agreement, nor may they access it after they complete their witness process. No email attachment is sent, and if the witness has an Acrobat Sign account, the agreement does not appear on their Manage page.
Witness fields must be authored into the document where their signature is required. If a signature field is not placed for the witness, one is automatically placed at the end of the document.
If the witness's occupation and address isn't collected in the witness verification pop-up, you must add these as required fields assigned to the witness. Failure to do so may result in being out of compliance with the regulations for witnessing the agreement.
Limited Document Visibility rules apply to witnesses like any other participant. Only the files that contain fields for the witness can be viewed.
In-app Authoring: Assigning fields to the witness
The in-application authoring environment identifies the witnesses in the signature flow order and provides color-coded identifiers for them in the Recipients list.
Text tags
Witnesses are recipients with regard to the indexing of participants. If you have two recipients that each require a witness, then:
- The first signer is _es:signer1
- The witness attached to the first signer is _es:signer2
- The second signer is _es:signer3
- The witness attached to the second signer is _es:signer4
The assignment of the text tag identifiers is consistent with the signature flow of the agreement. However, the indexing on the compose page does not account for the witnesses in the interface. (Witnesses are presented as a subordinate record of the identified recipient.)
Take the time to design and test your forms carefully to ensure the signature flow is correctly processed and participants are given access to the correct fields.
Configuration
The controls for this feature can be assessed by navigating to Account Settings > Send Settings > Allowed Recipient Roles
Enable the Allow senders to mark recipients as signers with witness checkbox.
The role is either enabled, granting access to the role, or not. There are no further controls.
When the control is enabled, the Sign with Witness role is exposed in the list of roles available to the sender on the Compose page and in the custom send workflow designer:
Manage page status
An agreement on the Manage page reflects the status of Out for Witnessing when the signature cycle is waiting for a witness to complete their attestation.
Note that recipients who are not witnesses continue to show the status appropriate for their role in the agreement (Out for signature, Out for approval, and so on).
The Activity list provides the same events of the audit report in a condensed format. The witness activities are clearly identified, but the signer's event does not include their requirement for a witness.
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