Michigan Laws 700.1202 – Execution of documents; signing or witnessing documents by 2-way real-time audiovisual technology; requirements; good faith; applies April 30, 2020 until July 1, 2021
Current as of: 2023 | Check for updates
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Terms Used In Michigan Laws 700.1202
- Court: means the probate court or, when applicable, the family division of circuit court. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Funeral representative: means an individual designated to have the right and power to make decisions about funeral arrangements and the handling, disposition, or disinterment of a decedent's body, including, but not limited to, decisions about cremation, and the right to possess cremated remains of the decedent as provided in section 3206. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Guardian: means a person who has qualified as a guardian of a minor or a legally incapacitated individual under a parental or spousal nomination or a court appointment and includes a limited guardian as described in sections 5205, 5206, and 5306. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
- Incapacitated individual: means an individual who is impaired by reason of mental illness, mental deficiency, physical illness or disability, chronic use of drugs, chronic intoxication, or other cause, not including minority, to the extent of lacking sufficient understanding or capacity to make or communicate informed decisions. See Michigan Laws 700.1105
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Minor: means an individual who is less than 18 years of age. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
- Patient advocate: means an individual designated to exercise powers concerning another individual's care, custody, and medical or mental health treatment or authorized to make an anatomical gift on behalf of another individual, or both, as provided in section 5506. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
- Person: means an individual or an organization. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
- Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
- Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership, and includes both real and personal property or an interest in real or personal property. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
(1) Notwithstanding anything in this act to the contrary, the act of signing or witnessing the execution of a document or instrument under this act, including, but not limited to, a will under article II, a disclaimer under section 2903, a funeral representative designation, a parental appointment of a guardian of a minor under section 5202, an appointment of a guardian of a legally incapacitated individual under section 5301, a durable power of attorney under section 5501, or a patient advocate designation is satisfied by use of a 2-way real-time audiovisual technology if all of the following requirements are met:
(a) The 2-way real-time audiovisual technology must allow direct, contemporaneous interaction by sight and sound between the signatory and the witnesses.
(b) The interaction between the signatory and the witnesses must be recorded and preserved by the signatory or the signatory’s designee for a period of at least 3 years.
(c) The signatory must affirmatively represent either that the signatory is physically situated in this state, or that the signatory is physically located outside the geographic boundaries of this state and that either of the following applies:
(i) The document or instrument is intended for filing with or relates to a matter before a court, governmental entity, public official, or other entity subject to the jurisdiction of this state.
(ii) The document or instrument involves property located in the territorial jurisdiction of this state or a transaction substantially connected to this state.
(d) The signatory must affirmatively state during his or her interaction with the witnesses on the 2-way real-time audiovisual technology what document they are executing.
(e) Each title page and signature page of the document or instrument being witnessed must be shown to the witnesses on the 2-way real-time audiovisual technology in a manner clearly legible to the witnesses, and every page of the document or instrument must be numbered to reflect both the page number of the document or instrument and the total number of pages of the document or instrument.
(f) Each act of signing the document or instrument must be captured sufficiently up close on the 2-way real-time audiovisual technology for the witnesses to observe.
(g) The signatory or the signatory’s designee must transmit by facsimile, mail, or electronic means a legible copy of the entire signed document or instrument directly to the witnesses within 72 hours after it is executed.
(h) Within 72 hours after receipt, the witnesses must sign the transmitted copy of the document or instrument as a witness and return the signed copy of the document or instrument to the signatory or the signatory’s designee by facsimile, mail, or electronic means.
(i) The document or instrument is either of the following:
(i) In writing.
(ii) A record that is readable as text at the time of signing.
(2) The rights or interests of a person that relies in good faith and without actual notice that a document or instrument described in subsection (1) was executed on or after April 30, 2020 and before July 1, 2021, but was not executed in accordance with subsection (1) are not impaired, challenged, or terminated on that basis alone.
(3) Compliance with this section is presumed. A person challenging a document or instrument described in and executed in accordance with subsection (1) may overcome the presumption by establishing, by clear and convincing evidence, that the signatory or a witness intentionally failed to comply with the requirements under subsection (1).
(4) This section applies to a document or instrument described in subsection (1) executed on or after April 30, 2020 and before July 1, 2021.
(5) As used in this section:
(a) “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
(b) “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
(c) “Sign” or “signing” means with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record to do either of the following:
(i) Execute or adopt a tangible symbol.
(ii) Affix to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol or process.