Getting a signature witnessed

A deed is not an agreement. Most deeds have to be attested: somebody watches the signatory sign, and then signs themselves to say they watched. That is not a third signature on the page — it is a statement about somebody else's signature — so a witness on a request here is added differently from everybody else.

Adding one

On a draft, under the people, there is a second row: the witness's name, their email, and which person on the request they are going to watch. They take that person's signing group automatically, because their place in the order is decided entirely by whom they are watching.

Adding a witness copies the documents their person is signing onto them as a starting point. Change those like any other cell if you need to — what the request will not let you do is send a witness who has not been asked to sign anything their person signs, because there would be nothing for them to attest.

They get no link until the signature exists

A witness is not sent anything when the request goes out. Their link is created at the moment the person they are watching actually signs, and not before — so a witness cannot sign first, and a forwarded link cannot make them.

That also means the order waits: nobody after them is released until the witness has attested. If the person they were watching declines instead of signing, the witness is never asked for anything and the request moves on without them.

What the witness is asked

They see the document and they are asked one extra question: whether they watched in person, or over a live video link. There is no default, because the two are not the same thing legally and the answer is written into what they affirm.

What they affirm is not the consent the signatory gave. It names the person they watched, the moment that person signed, how they watched, and that they are signing as a witness and not as a party to the document. It is stored exactly as it was shown to them, and the certificate quotes it back.

What the certificate says

The witness appears among the signatories with an outcome of "Witnessed" rather than "Signed", and a line naming whose signature they attested and how. The person they watched carries the other half of it — "Signature witnessed by …" — so a reader can see the pair.

What this does not decide

We record what the witness said they did. We do not check that they are over eighteen, that they are not a beneficiary of the instrument, or that the conditions for witnessing over a video link where you are were met. Some instruments have their own rules — a binding death benefit nomination needs two witnesses, each over eighteen, neither of them a nominated beneficiary — and the request does not enforce those.

If nobody is witnessing it

Some starting points are marked "Needs a witness" in the gallery. If one of those is on a request and nobody is attached to witness a signature on it, the send stops and names the person and the document.

You can add a witness, or confirm no witness is needed — a deed executed by a company under section 127 generally does not need one, and only you know who is signing. Confirming is recorded against the request as it stands, so if you then add somebody else who signs, you will be asked again.