Victorian Parliament passes amendment for eSignature of deeds, wills, power of attorney and mortgage docs

In mid-March, the Victorian Parliament passed the Justice Legislation Amendment (System Enhancements and Other Matters) Bill 2021, which permits deeds, wills, power of attorney and mortgage documents to be executed electronically. 

Doug Luftman, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Docusign, said:

“COVID-19 has highlighted the essential need to be able to sign important documents electronically from nearly anywhere, at any time. Docusign congratulates the Victorian Government for modernising their laws for the digital age by allowing deeds, wills, power of attorney and mortgage documents to be executed electronically.

This is an important step in the government’s digital transformation journey. The changes will enable businesses, consumers, and lawyers to save significant costs and time in the preparation and signing of documents, particularly in rural and regional areas.   

As we have seen with important interim digital measures over the last year, businesses and their employees have been able to sign electronic documents in minutes, rather than days, while saving on costs such as paper, printing and storing documents. Such considerable paper reduction also has positive environmental impact.

We encourage other state and territory governments to follow Victoria’s lead and reform their electronic signature laws so that we can have a single national process that ensures accessibility, ease and secure transacting for all Australians.”

 To learn more about the amendment, view it here.