We take the affidavit process seriously at Column. Our goal is to deliver an efficient experience for your publication and to do so in a legally compliant manner. Here are a few ways our affidavit team, who notarize 17,000+ documents per month, guarantee compliance for publishers:
1) We cross-check all notice publications against e-editions.
Our team uses your publication’s e-edition to confirm that a notice ran in print. This confirmation step is a critical part of a compliant affidavit process. After we use the e-edition to verify that the notice ran in print, we can sign the affidavit as an agent on behalf of the publisher and notarize it with one of our in-house notaries.
2) We perform live notarization sessions with permanent digital recordings.
Our team of Column notaries and signing agents perform routine daily signing sessions to support the volume of affidavits we process across our network of Column Pro publishers. These sessions require identity and location verification by both parties, verbal oaths before signing begins, and real-time signing of documents.
Note: We do not auto-generate signature blocks on documents. Some software systems allow publishers to automatically add signature blocks and notary stamps to affidavits. While efficient, this process is not legal.
3) We support wet signature signing and mailing to designated jurisdictions.
Despite the widespread adoption of digital signatures across the US, some jurisdictions still mandate wet signatures. Our affidavit team, in consultation with our in-house counsel, help our publishing partners determine when wet signatures are required. We coordinate with local mail centers to fulfill compliance with this process.
If you are not confident your publication is running a compliant affidavit process, we are happy to help you review your process with our in-house counsel and affidavits team.
