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Home > Guides > Faxed Signatures and Legality
Generally, yes. A signature sent by fax is treated like an original in most contracts, because the law cares about your intent to sign and a reliable record of the agreement, not the delivery method. Some contracts explicitly exclude faxed copies, so check the agreement first.
This is general information, not legal advice.
The short version: contract law asks whether you intended to sign and whether there is a record of what you signed. A fax satisfies both. It carries an image of your actual pen-on-paper signature, and the transmission process creates a record of when it was sent and received. That is why faxed signatures have been accepted for decades, long before e-signatures became mainstream.
In the US, the ESIGN Act and state versions of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) say a signature cannot be denied effect just because it is electronic. Faxed copies typically pass under these laws because they are electronic records of a real signature. In Canada, provincial electronic commerce legislation and the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act play a similar role. The details differ by province and state, but the general acceptance of faxed signatures is consistent across both countries.
The main exception is contractual. Many agreements include a clause like "this agreement may be executed in counterparts, and facsimile or scanned signatures are acceptable." If your agreement has that clause, you are fine. If it instead says signatures must be original wet-ink copies, a fax may not be enough, and you should get the original to them by mail or in person.
Certain documents have stricter formal requirements by law or by the receiving institution, regardless of what the contract says. Examples that often require originals:
| Document type | Why an original may be required |
|---|---|
| Wills and estate documents | Probate law in many jurisdictions requires original signatures |
| Recorded real estate deeds | County land registries often require originals or specific formats |
| Certain court filings | Courts set their own filing rules; some accept fax, some do not |
| Notarized documents | The notary must witness you sign in person (or via authorized remote notarization) |
Three habits make a faxed signature hard to challenge. First, sign clearly and keep your signature inside the page margins so the fax does not crop it. Second, keep the transmission report: it proves the signed page was delivered to the recipient's fax number at a specific date and time. Third, keep the signed original yourself. A faxed copy backed by a signed original and a transmission report is very difficult for the other party to dispute.
For the highest-stakes agreements, ask the other side to confirm in writing (even an email) that they accept faxed signatures before you send. That confirmation removes the question entirely.
Functionally, both work for most contracts, and both are backed by electronic-signature legislation. E-signature platforms add an audit trail (who signed, when, from which IP address) that a fax cannot match. But fax has one advantage the platforms do not: the signature image is your real pen signature, which some people and institutions simply trust more. When the recipient is a law office, a court clerk, or a government agency that asked for a fax, send the fax rather than arguing for a modern alternative.
Ready to fax it? Fax with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is sent.
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