New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has issued Executive Order 202.7, which temporarily suspends the rule requiring physical appearance before a notary public until April 18, 2020. This action was taken to facilitate the process of closing sales and signing estate documents remotely amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Executive Order allows notaries to notarize all legal documents utilizing audio-visual technology even though the notaries are not in the same physical location at which the documents are witnessed and signed, subject to the following conditions:

• The person seeking the notary’s services, if not personally known to the notary, must present valid photo identification to the notary during the video conference, not merely transmit identification either prior to or after the conference;
• The video conference must allow for direct interaction between the person signing document(s) and the notary (e.g. no prerecorded videos of the person signing are permitted);
• The signatory must affirmatively represent that he or she is physically situated in the State of New York;
• The signatory must transmit by fax or electronic means a legible copy of the signed document(s) directly to the notary on the same date it was signed;
• The notary may notarize the copy of the document transmitted by the signatory and re-transmit the same back to the signatory; and,
• The notary may repeat the notarization of the original signed document as of the date of execution provided the notary receives such original signed document together with the electronically notarized copy within thirty (30) days after the date of execution.

Executive Order 202.7 is attached here –

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UPDATED ON APRIL 14, 2020: New York Department of State issued guidance on remote notarization established by Executive Order 202.7 that I thought was helpful:

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