Remote Online Notary (RON) is now . . . and the future.

With the COVID-19 Crisis in full swing, we are getting calls and messages about remote or online closings.

Virginia has been doing Remote Online Notary (RON) for a few years. Many other states have followed.
COVID-19 has pushed the process of adopting RON forward rather quickly.

According to the National Notary Association . . .
As of March 26, 2020, the following states have enacted and fully implemented permanent remote online notarization laws and/or rules: Virginia, Texas, Nevada, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and North Dakota. South Dakota has enacted RON laws, but South Dakota limits RON to notarizing paper documents only.

Many other states including Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming have emergency RON orders and acts.

There is also a bill currently in both the U.S. House and Senate to put RON in place.

U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) introduced on Wednesday the Securing and Enabling Commerce Using Remote and Electronic Notarization Act of 2020, which permits immediate nationwide use of remote online notarization (RON) with minimum standards and provide certainty for the interstate recognition of RON. While RON won’t be available for every transaction, it does provide another closing option in some circumstances. “With the need for social distancing to help prevent the spread of the virus, we want to provide options to consumers to close their transaction remotely nationwide,” said Diane Tomb, ALTA’s chief executive officer. “The strong standards in this bill are important to prevent fraud and offer consumers a more secure alternative rather than FaceTime or Skype when buying property or refinancing a mortgage.”