San Antonio Express-News
March 9, 2004

Physical Disability Not Bar to Signing Legal Documents

copyright 2004, Paul Premack

Generally, the law requires that the person who is taking an action be the person who literally holds the pen to sign the document. The first thing that your mother must realize is that legally, her signature can be any "mark" that she can make as long as she intends it to be her signature. Many people with severe illness are unable to use the classroom-perfect flowing script signature that has been their mark for decades.

But when you think about it, some people don’t have legible signatures at any time in their lives. We’ve all seen the squiggles used by some busy business people, lawyers and doctors. Those pass as legal signatures. So your mother’s signature does not need to be legible; it just needs to be her mark. The key is whether or not she understands and agrees to the document that she is signing.

Inevitably, some persons’ physical disabilities are so severe that even making a mark is unattainable. Several laws have been passed through the years to help people who are mentally capable but physically incapable of signing a document.

First, Texas law allows a Notary Public to sign generalized documents (like a contract, a lease, or a government form) on behalf of a person with a physical impairment only. The principal (your mother in this case) must be present, and must explicitly direct the notary to sign on her behalf. The Notary’s signature must be witnessed by a person who has no legal or equitable interest in any real or personal property that is the subject of, or is affected by, the document being signed. Thus, such a document ends up with three signatures: your mother (as placed by the notary), the witness, and the same notary (to actually notarize the document).

Second, the statute regarding Medical Power of Attorney has a provision to accommodate disability. If the principal is physically unable to sign, another person may sign the medical power of attorney with the principal's name in the principal's presence and at the principal's express direction.

Third, relating also to medical issues, the Texas statute that authorizes a person to sign a "directive to physicians" declining artificial life support has a provision to accommodate disability. A competent adult patient can issue a directive by a nonwritten means of communication, so long as it is done in the presence of the attending physician and two qualified witnesses. Procedurally, the doctor must notate in the patient’s medical record that the nonwritten directive has been issued, along with the names of the two witnesses.

Finally, there is a provision in the Probate Code that allows someone to sign a Will on behalf of a disabled person. It must be signed in the presence of the testator (your mother) and at the specific direction of the testator. Thus, even a valid Will can be created without requiring the physical act of signing to be performed by your mother.