How to fax legal documents

Contracts and signatures

Under the federal ESIGN Act, a signature, contract or other record in a transaction affecting interstate or foreign commerce can’t be denied legal effect just because it’s in electronic form. State laws say much the same for other transactions: Texas, for example, has enacted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, and New York has its own electronic signature law.

Two limits matter:

• Nobody has to accept it. These laws don’t force anyone to use or accept electronic records or signatures; the uniform act applies when the parties have agreed to deal electronically. If your contract says how notices or signatures must be delivered, follow it.
• Some documents are excluded from ESIGN, including wills, family law matters, court orders and official court documents, and notices such as the cancellation of health or life insurance, foreclosures and evictions.

What makes a signature is the intent to sign. In 1996 New York’s highest court held that the sender name a fax machine prints automatically at the top of each page isn’t a signature. Sign the document itself before you fax it, rather than relying on the fax header.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. When a deadline or a lot of money is at stake, ask a lawyer.

Court filings

Federal courts work through electronic filing (CM/ECF). Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a person represented by a lawyer must file electronically unless the court or a local rule allows otherwise. A person without a lawyer files on paper unless a court order or a local rule lets them file electronically.

Fax filing is the exception. The Central District of California doesn’t accept documents faxed directly to the clerk’s office for filing, and the Northern District of New York won’t accept a faxed filing without the court’s prior permission.

State courts set their own rules. Before faxing anything to a court, read its local rules or call the clerk.

Serving papers by fax

In federal cases, papers served after the complaint can go by fax only if the person being served agreed to it in writing. The consent has to be express, and service isn’t effective if you learn the fax didn’t reach them. The summons and complaint follow a different rule, which doesn’t provide for service by fax.

Practical tips

• Sign before you scan, and fax every page, including the signature and initial pages.
• Put the matter or case name in the cover page’s subject, and your contact details in the sender fields.
• Keep your FaxTonic status page: it records the number of pages and when the receiving machine confirmed delivery.
• Keep the signed originals. A fax is a copy, and some processes require the original.

FaxTonic can’t receive faxes, so the other side can’t fax a countersigned copy back to you through it. Agree on email or mail for the return.

How to fax a legal document with FaxTonic

1. Sign the document, then scan it or photograph each page flat and in good light. FaxTonic takes PDF, JPEG, and PNG files, up to 20 pages per fax.
2. Open FaxTonic, add the file and fill in the free cover page. Tick the confidentiality notice for private or privileged material.
3. Choose the recipient’s country and enter the fax number. FaxTonic sends to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, and Spain.
4. Check the total and pay by card: $1.49 a page to the United States, and other prices by country.
5. Keep your status page with your file.