Collate Deed For Free

Consequently, the ideal witness under English law is a person aged 18 or over, who is not a party to the deed, has no commercial or financial interest in the subject matter of the deed and no close personal relationship with the person whose signature they are witnessing.

Deeds must be in writing and will typically be executed in the presence of a witness, although in the case of a company a deed may be executed effectively by two directors or a director and the company secretary. Specific wording should also be included above the signature blocks.

A party to a deed cannot be a witness to another signature to that deed. Legislation does not prohibit a signatory's spouse, co-habitee or civil partner from acting as a witness and it is also generally acceptable for an employee of a party to witness that party's signature.

Under usual circumstances, a document requiring execution as a deed should be signed either by two signatories (two directors, a director and company secretary, or two members in the case of an LLP), or by an individual, director, or member (in the case of an LLP) in the presence of an 'independent' witness, who should

A witness should not be the signatory's spouse or partner or a family member, and should not have a personal interest in the provisions of the document. Case law has confirmed that a party to the document cannot act as a witness to another party's signature. It is advisable that a witness is aged eighteen or over.

Effect of a deed The general rule is that once a party has executed a deed, it will take effect against that party in favour of the other named parties even though it has not been executed by those other parties, unless it: Was delivered subject to a condition that all such parties must execute it.

There appears to be a practice (particularly with compromise agreements) whereby one party purports to execute a document as a deed and the other party executes the document as a simple contract.