Signing US Documents from here in BsAs?

[GS_Dirtboy]

I have a friend who is selling his house in the US. His broker called and said that they will be closing on the sale of the house and my friend might have to be present at the closing to sign documents.

Does anyone know how he can do this without needing to leave Argentina?

Thanks in advance!

 

[surfing]

Can't he simply sign a power of attorney designating someone else to act and sign of his behalf? I imagine you could find a template on the web, print it, have it notarized at the US Embassy, and then send it off to the US from their DHL office.
http://argentina.usembassy.gov/other-services.html
Of course this is assuming that he has someone in the US who is trustworthy and willing to do it.

 

[kurtdillard]

Electronic copies of signatures have been legal in the US for a long time. I've signed all sorts of documents, scanned them, and emailed them back to the US with no issues. A lot of US firms are even set up to do everything completely digital, Adobe's software supports digital signatures and I've used them for contracts with a handful of companies. I'm in the process of selling a house in Maryland and the broker understands that we want to do the whole thing remotely, she said it won't be a problem. I think your friend's broker is mistaken.

 

[ndcj]

It's not all that uncommon to close by mail, it's called a 'mail away' closing. Google for mail away real estate closing and you'll find lots of advice on how to do it.

Take a look at http://naplesrealtyattorney.com/index-3.php?q=10 for a start.

 

[el_expatriado]

The official way to do this is to sign with an escribano here in Buenos Aires and then go to the Colegio de Escribanos in Las Heras Avenue and they will give you an apostille for the document, which makes it official abroad.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll pass this on to him. I know he'll be appreciative!

 

[katti]

Maybe you should just contact your embassy.

I had something similar last month, contacted the (Belgian) embassy, and it turns out there is a link between all the belgian notaries, through the ministry of internal affairs to the embassies all over the world. All I had to do was goto the embassy when they called me...

Maybe something similar exists with the US?

 

[ElQueso]

I don't know if an apostile is useful for signing notarized documents for use in the States. For example, I couldn't do that when I signed my final divorce papers. I had to go to the US embassy to get an official, "US recognized" notary.

 

[el_expatriado]

I don't know if an apostile is useful for signing notarized documents for use in the States. For example, I couldn't do that when I signed my final divorce papers. I had to go to the US embassy to get an official, "US recognized" notary.

The US is a member of the Hague Convention and therefore accepts the apostille the same as any US notary. If someone told you otherwise, they don't know anything about international law.

The US Embassy is notoriously fussy about notarizing documents. They won't notarize commercial documents and they won't even notarize stuff being sent to the IRS. The IRS (and all other gov't agencies) accept the apostille.

 

[ElQueso]

The US is a member of the Hague Convention and therefore accepts the apostille the same as any US notary. If someone told you otherwise, they don't know anything about international law.

The US Embassy is notoriously fussy about notarizing documents. They won't notarize commercial documents and they won't even notarize stuff being sent to the IRS. The IRS (and all other gov't agencies) accept the apostille.

You know, now that I think about it (it was six years ago, and a one-time event at that, that I often try to forget about )I admit I was a bit wrong about what I said. It was the escribano seal that they didn't accept. I was very new to things here, about doing things like this in an international way, didn't know about apostiles at the time, didn't really know anyone to ask at the time. The person at the court didn't tell me about getting an apostile after getting it done by an escribano. They did tell me that the US embassy notarized documents, so I had it done that way.

Sorry about the confusion - I was mixing up my later knowledge about apostiling with what I didn't know back then.