How does someone sign or agree to my legal document?
Review the different ways to have other parties agree to your legal documents.
One of the most common questions we get asked is what to do after creating an agreement or terms and conditions using our system. The answer is to get the other party (or parties) to agree to the terms set out in that legal document.
For the types of legal documents you’ll create using Plainly Legal™, you have a lot of flexibility about how you get that proof of agreement. All that you’ll need is some affirmative act by the other party showing that they agree. You may have heard of the recent case where a Canadian court found that sending a thumbs up emoji met this test in a particular case.
How you go about getting agreement from the other party (or parties) to your agreements is not about meeting a formal legal requirement; it’s about getting something you can point to as proof that the other side agreed. Here are some ways you could go about it.
A Notarized Ink Signature. You could always go the truly old-school route and have each party sign a physical copy of the agreement in ink in front of a notary who puts their seal on the agreement. This is the gold standard version of proving agreement because the notary’s seal signifies that the notary checked each party’s IDs and can attest that the agreement was signed and that it was signed by the parties whose names are listed. Hardly anyone goes this route.
An e-Signature. Back in 2000, the US passed a law called the E-Sign Act. It says that an e-signature is as legally valid as a traditional signature written in ink on paper. Note, that an e-signature is not as strong as a notarized physical signature because the system does not verify IDs. In other words, there is always a risk of fraud, but that’s true of any form of agreement.
Click-To-Accept Boxes. This has become the norm in proving online agreements. Courts have accepted so-called “clickwrap” agreements. These are agreements that require someone to click a box to accept terms before accessing a product (or as part of the sales process). Note, that for a clickwrap to help you in a dispute, you’ll need to be able to present proof that they clicked the box. This can add additional risk because most systems you’ll use for your checkout won’t provide you that level of detail in reporting.
Other Forms of Agreement. Technically, any response from someone showing that they agree to a contract or terms could suffice. Thus, the Canadian court’s ruling on an emoji. In more concrete terms, if you send a contract to someone via email and they respond saying that they agree, that might suffice in a dispute, but you’ll be on shakier ground.
Ultimately, the decision of which format to use depends on your risk tolerance. In other words, you’ll have to weigh how much friction it will add to the transaction against how it will affect the risk.
In the online business world, Click-To-Accept boxes have become the norm for most group programs, while e-Signature is used for one-on-one agreements and some higher priced programs (e.g., $25k per year masterminds).