§702. Remote notarization authorized

            A. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any act in which any person or witness appeared before a notary public using an electronic device or process which allowed all such persons and the notary public to communicate simultaneously by sight and sound and to which the electronic signatures of such persons, witnesses, and the notary public were affixed on or after March 11, 2020, and before May 1, 2020, shall have the same force and effect as if all persons, witnesses, and the notary public had been in the physical presence of each other.

            B. The provisions of Subsection A of this Section shall not apply to any testament, trust instrument, donation inter vivos, matrimonial agreement, act modifying, waiving, or extinguishing an obligation of final spousal support, or any amendments to such acts, or authentic acts.

            C. Any act which would constitute an authentic act but for the appearance of one or more necessary persons via electronic means, may still be valid as an act under private signature or an acknowledged act.

            Acts 2020, No. 131, §1, eff. June 9, 2020.

            NOTE: See Acts 2020, No. 131, §3, regarding retroactive application of the Act.