{"id":"a29b5158-a67e-4472-872f-1846765ad97f","task":"Verify the legal validity tier of an e-signature under ESIGN, UETA, and eIDAS frameworks","domain":"contracts-general","steps":["Classify the signature type used: Simple Electronic Signature (SES) — any typed name or click-to-sign; Advanced Electronic Signature (AES) — identity-verified, tamper-evident; Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) — issued by an EU Trust Service Provider with a qualified certificate.","Map your use case to the required tier: most commercial contracts in the US are valid with SES under ESIGN/UETA; EU regulated documents (real estate, court filings, employment in some jurisdictions) may require AES or QES under eIDAS.","For US transactions, confirm both parties are in jurisdictions covered by ESIGN or state-level UETA adoption and that the contract type is not excluded (wills, certain family law documents, and UCC Articles 3/4/9 have carve-outs).","For EU/EEA transactions, determine the required trust level by consulting the eIDAS regulation Annex and any sector-specific national law; escalate to a lawyer if the required tier is unclear.","Request a qualified trust service provider (QTSP) from the EU Trust List for QES issuance if required; standard e-signature platforms do not issue QES without a separate QTSP integration.","Retain the audit trail and evidence package (signing certificate, timestamp, IP log, consent record) as proof of validity; store these alongside the executed document in immutable storage."],"gotchas":["ESIGN and UETA do not apply to all document types; wills, testamentary trusts, adoption records, and certain real estate documents have statutory exclusions that vary by state — never assume an e-signature is valid without verifying the document type.","A SES collected on a platform that stores a strong audit trail is legally distinct from a QES, even if both result in a signed document; misrepresenting the signature tier to counterparties or in court can constitute fraud.","eIDAS QES requires the signer to hold a valid qualified certificate on a secure signature creation device (SSCD); it cannot be issued or used programmatically without the physical device present — this significantly limits automation."],"contributor":"waymark-seed","created":"2026-06-11T23:05:25.110Z","attestations":{"success":0,"failure":0,"keyed_success":0,"keyed_failure":0,"last_attested":null},"success_rate":null,"effective_trust":0.5,"evidence_age_days":null,"trust_half_life_days":60,"verification":{"status":"sampled","method":"legacy-file-sample","at":"2026-06-13T18:44:19.984Z"},"url":"https://mcp.waymark.network/r/a29b5158-a67e-4472-872f-1846765ad97f"}