Useful tips to help you sign your legal agreements correctly & samples for your use

Updated: 8 December 2019

Whether you want to confirm that you are signing your agreement correctly, repurpose an agreement  prepared for you by a lawyer  or simply want to check your current processes are in order, here are some useful tips to help you sign your legal agreements confidently. 

We outline steps for signing Australian agreements only and not deeds.  if you want to know how to sign a deed correctly you can refer to our article here.

If you're in doubt,  get legal advice.

We're going to cover signing agreement as a sole trader, company and trust.

You can include a signature block for a witness but there is no legal requirement for you to do so.

If you decide to have a witness,  they should be present to witness and for this reason you and your witness should sign the agreement electronically.

Here’s What the signature block looks like for a sole trader signing an agreement with a witness:

Here's a signature block for a sole trader signing without a witness:

2. Company

A company may sign a document by having it signed by  either:

• two directors of the company;
• a director and a company secretary;
• for a company with a sole director who is also the soul secretary - that director.

Here's what your signature blocks look like for 2 company directors signing an agreement or a director and a secretary:

Here's what the signature block looks like for a sole director signing an agreement:

If you have a trustee signing an agreement, it’s a good idea to see the trust deed or a certified copy of it.

You should not use this execution block for agreements that are e-signed.

Here's a signature block for a corporate trustee that has either 2 or more directors or a director and a secretary:

Here's the signature block for a corporate trustee with a sole director: