Signatures

Question 1

QUESTION: In a contract’s signature block, why include “Date signed” as a separate space for the signer to fill in by hand?

Answer 1

ANSWER: To provide evidence of the date the contract was actually signed, which might be different than the “effective date” of the contract (and the difference might be important, e.g., for accounting purposes).

Question 2

QUESTION: What should be included in the signature block for an organization (e.g., acorporation, partnership, etc.)?

Answer 2

<p>ANSWER:</p>

<ul>
<li>The name of the signatory organization, followed by the word "by:" (note the colon);</li>
<li>Any intervening organizations signing on behalf of the signatory organization;</li>
<li>A line for the actual handwritten signature of the individual human signing the document <em>(this will vary if the signature is electronic)</em>;</li>
<li>The printed name <em>and title</em> of the human signer (to help establish that the human signer is not signing in his or her personal capacity and therefore should not be held personally liable);</li>
<li>Preferably, a line for the human signer to hand-write the date signed.</li>
</ul>