The Minnesota Legislature approved Remote Online Notarization last year. The law has not yet been implemented, generally due to the inability for lenders, title insurers and county recorders/registrars to get on the same page with the technology. And there are some nay-sayers as to the technology.  In response to these nay-sayers, Notarize has put out a good article called “Five Myths About Remote Online Notarization” that helps with further explanation of the process and value.

Recently, the Minnesota Land Title Association, in conjunction with Recorders, is asking the Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz, (who has been dealing mightily with the Covid pandemic, thousands of peaceful protesters and a handful of  rioters) to sign an Executive Order allowing Remote Ink-signed Notarization (RIN.) Under RIN, the signing can be seen online via remote technology by the notary, but the documents are then mailed or delivered to the notary who then “wet-signs” them with pen and ink. The idea is to allow social distancing during the Corona pandemic.

If this is approved, it is expected that the notary will use the standard short form jurat on the deeds and mortgages (that we are all familiar with) and not use the RON notary jurat prescribed in statute. The concept for the RIN notarization is that MN statute 358.645 defines “personally appear” as either being seen in person (physically face-to-face) or being seen and identified remotely through communication technology. It is not known if this will be a temporary measure during the Covid crisis, as has been seen in other states, or if it will become a more permanent form of notarization.

We will update the site after additional information becomes available.