Rutba Sign on film: understand the paper, then draft it for the place it is for

Most people meet an electronic signature as a box to click, at the moment somebody else wants it clicked. The public Rutba Sign site is written for the person holding the paper, and the film below walks through it that way. The names typed into the wizard are invented, and Rutba Sign is in early access.

Play the film

Rutba Sign for a person: understand the paper, then draft it for the place it is for (5:15).

The evidence is the product

The film starts from the idea behind the first post in our Sign series: the signature is the easy part, and the evidence behind it is what matters if anyone asks. Each envelope keeps a record of every step, chained to the one before. The people a document is sent to need no account and are never charged, and the sealed record can be checked by anyone, even after the sender stops paying.

The guides

There are five guides, written for the person holding the paper rather than for a lawyer. One table answers the question people ask first, whether a document can be signed electronically: most agreements can, a will and a transfer of land cannot, and each row gives the short legal reason. The same list is what the signing engine checks every time something is sent.

The signatures guide treats a signature as a claim someone may one day challenge, and names the four ways it gets attacked: did they mean to be bound, was it really them, is this the document they signed, and can you still show all of it in five years. Further down are the ways a good document comes undone on its last page, such as one person signing for both sides.

Draft it for the place it is for

The wizard starts with a question most templates skip: where is this document for? The place decides the governing law and whether stamp duty is owed. For England and Wales eleven documents are offered, each card saying how many questions it asks and whether it can be signed electronically there. A deed of assignment can be drafted but not signed electronically, because English law wants the witness in the room, so Rutba Sign hands over a printable original and a sheet on how to sign it.

The film starts a private car sale on the first screen. Nothing typed on that page leaves the browser; the remaining questions and the drafted document are in the Rutba Sign app, which asks again inside an account. Accounts for individuals are not open to the public yet.

Wills, and what it does not claim

Wills are what people ask about most, and the wizard does not offer one: the guide explains what a will needs to be valid and says plainly that Rutba Sign will help prepare one and will not let you sign it there. The comparison page opens with what Rutba Sign is not: the better known products are mature and on sale today, and Rutba Sign is in early access.