Column’s Automated Affidavits

Column’s automated affidavits service ensures a compliant and streamlined affidavit process for your paper. We take care of signing and notarizing all your affidavits, and delivering them court-ready to your clients. Finally say goodbye to the hassle of affidavits. Reclaim your time.

How Does It Work?

On behalf of the newspaper, Column will (1) use the paper’s e-edition to confirm that a notice ran, (2) sign and notarize the affidavit, and (3) upload the affidavit back into Column for publishers and their customers to access in perpetuity.

By agreeing to a limited agency agreement, Column is allowed to act as an agent on behalf of the newspaper to sign and notarize documents.

Automated Affidavits by the Numbers

How much time could you save?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the turnaround time for affidavits?

Column’s notaries and signatories sign on a scheduled cadence. Affidavits will usually be available at the end of the fourth business day following the last publication date.

How is Column legally allowed to sign affidavits on our behalf?

As part of onboarding with automated affidavits, the publisher signs a contract that legally designates Column to act as an agent on your behalf to sign and notarize documents.

How does verification work? What is the difference between verification and notarization?

Verification describes the part of the process where Column uses the paper’s e-edition to confirm that a notice ran in a given paper on given publication dates. Notarization is the official process of verifying the identity of the signer party and the authenticity of his or her signature, and (in certain notarizations) taking the oath or pledge of the signer as to the accuracy of the affidavit document. Our notaries will notarize an affidavit by a Column officer or employee, and sign as an agent of the publisher of the newspaper, that attests that a notice ran in print.

What is Remote Online Notarization (RON) and is this legal everywhere?

Remote online notarization (RON), or e-notarization, is a type of notarization that allows individuals to have their documents notarized using video conferencing technology.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for Remote Online Notarization. Many states enacted legislation or executive orders permitting its use. We’ve done extensive research and verified each state’s qualification requirements, so we know what a respective state’s policies are before our team sets up a newspaper in said state with our automated affidavit service.