Are electronic signatures legal in Mississippi?

How Mississippi got here

The Legislature passed the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act as Senate Bill 2678 in 2001, and the Governor approved it on March 13, 2001 (Laws 2001, chapter 400). It took effect July 1, 2001, and it covers records and signatures created on or after that date. The same act repealed Mississippi's Digital Signature Act of 1997. It's codified at Miss. Code Ann. § 75-12-1 and following.

What the act says

Alongside that rule, § 75-12-13 says a record, signature or contract can't be denied legal effect just because it's electronic, and an electronic record satisfies a law requiring a writing. The act applies only when each party has agreed to conduct the transaction electronically, which can be inferred from the context and their conduct. Anyone who agreed once can still refuse to do the next transaction electronically.

Mississippi's Attorney General has applied this in practice. A January 2021 official opinion concluded that electronic signatures satisfy signature requirements on a county board of supervisors' minutes, resolutions, orders, contracts, correspondence and purchase orders. Attorney General opinions guide public officials, but they aren't court rulings.

What's excluded in Mississippi

Mississippi wrote most of the federal ESIGN Act's exceptions (15 U.S.C. § 7003) into its own scope section (§ 75-12-5(b)). The act doesn't apply to:

• Laws governing the creation and execution of wills, codicils or testamentary trusts.
• The Uniform Commercial Code, other than §§ 75-1-107 and 75-1-206 and Articles 2 and 2A (sales and leases of goods).
• Adoption, divorce and other family law matters.
• Court orders, notices and official court documents, including briefs and pleadings.
• Documents that must accompany hazardous materials, pesticides or other dangerous materials.
• Notices of utility shutoff; of default, repossession, foreclosure, eviction or the right to cure on a primary residence; of health or life insurance cancellation; and of product recalls that risk health or safety.

Mississippi and federal law

ESIGN makes electronic signatures valid nationwide for transactions affecting interstate commerce (15 U.S.C. § 7001), and for most business contracts Mississippi's act reaches the same result. If a law requires you to give a consumer information in writing, follow ESIGN's consent and disclosure steps before sending it electronically (§ 7001(c)). Our plain-English guide lays out the federal side.

Practical notes for Mississippi businesses

• Agree up front. Put a short clause in your contract saying both sides agree to sign electronically.
• Let signers keep a copy. A record the recipient can't print or store isn't enforceable against them under the act.
• Notarization. If a law requires notarization, the notary's electronic signature, with all required information attached, satisfies it (§ 75-12-21). SignMaster doesn't notarize documents.
• Keep the final version and the evidence. Store the completed document so it stays accurate and accessible, along with a record of who signed and when.

That last note is where SignMaster helps. Every signer agrees to sign electronically before signing, and the agreement is recorded with the disclosure version they saw. Once everyone has signed, the PDF gets a certificate of completion listing every event and its time, and each signer can download the result.