6.5 RON Special Considerations

Acceptance Is Not Guaranteed

A RON performed under ORC 147.60-147.66 is legally valid in Ohio, but validity is not the same as acceptance. The notary should counsel signers that some recipients may refuse or scrutinize a remotely notarized document.

The notary's duty is to perform the act correctly and to inform the signer that acceptance elsewhere varies - not to promise universal acceptance. Liability does not arise merely because a distant recipient declines a correctly executed RON.

Sensitive Documents and Heightened Exposure

Electronic estate-planning documents - electronic wills, electronic powers of attorney, and similar instruments - carry outsized liability because errors may surface years later, after the principal has died or lost capacity, and often affect vulnerable people. Before notarizing such documents online, a notary should confirm:

• whether the platform and the notary carry adequate errors-and-omissions (E&O) coverage and any required bond;
• whether a separate proof or filing must be made with the Secretary of State for the specific document class;
• whether witness requirements for the underlying instrument (for example, will-execution formalities) can be satisfied over the same audio-video channel.

Do not assume a standard online authorization automatically covers every high-risk document class - verify the current requirement before the session, because the consequences of getting an electronic will wrong are severe and long-delayed.

Security and Privacy Duties

Every RON session generates a recording holding the signer's face, voice, identity credential, and personal data - a rich target for misuse. The notary's obligations:

Handling Technical Failure

Worked scenario: Halfway through a jurat the signer's internet drops after the oath but before the signature. The notary may not complete the certificate from the partial recording - the signing was not witnessed live. The notary documents the failure, reschedules a fresh session, and may still bill the up-to-$10 technology fee for the platform use. Convenience never overrides any RON requirement; urgency is not an exception to credential analysis, KBA, recording, or the journal.

Jurisdiction Always Anchors to Ohio

No matter where the signer sits, Ohio law governs the act because the notary is physically in Ohio. That single fact answers a cluster of exam questions:

When advising an out-of-state or overseas signer, the notary should note that the document's downstream use - recording, court filing, or use abroad - may be governed by other jurisdictions' rules, even though the notarization is governed by Ohio.

A Working Risk Checklist

Before and during a sensitive online session, run through:

1. Authority - is my commission and online authorization current?
2. Platform - does it perform credential analysis, KBA, recording, and tamper-evident sealing?
3. Identity - did credential analysis and KBA both pass, and does the face match the ID?
4. Document class - is this an electronic will or other high-risk instrument needing extra coverage or filings?
5. Disclosure - has the signer been told the fees, including that the technology fee may apply to a failed session?
6. Records - is the recording captured and the journal entry complete with the evidence of identity and fee?

Disability and Accessibility

Nothing in RON waives the notary's duty to ensure the signer understands and freely signs. If a signer over video appears confused, coerced, or unable to communicate, the notary must decline just as in person - the screen does not lower the awareness-and-volition standard. If communication needs an interpreter, the interpreter's involvement should be handled consistently with Ohio's identification and oath requirements and documented in the journal. RON expands reach, not the categories of people whose signatures a notary may lawfully take.