Documents Online: Signing, Storing and Dealing With Agencies

More of this has moved online than most people realise, and much of it is genuinely easier than the paper version — no printing, no scanning, no post office.

The parts worth being careful about are narrower than the general unease suggests, and they are specific.

For a practical overview of workplace stereotyping, Monitask provides further details with further context.

General information, not legal advice. Anything involving property, wills or significant sums should go through a professional.

Electronic signatures

They are legally valid for most everyday purposes in the United States, under federal law and in every state. A signature typed or drawn in a document service carries the same weight as ink for ordinary agreements.

How it works in practice: you receive an email with a link, open the document, click where indicated, type or draw your name, and confirm. Both parties receive a completed copy.

What to check before signing anything electronically:

• Read it first. The convenience makes it easy to click through. The document is as binding as one on paper
• Check who sent it. An unexpected signature request is a phishing format. Verify with the sender through a route you already have
• Download your copy when it completes. Do not rely on the link continuing to work
• Look at the completion certificate, which records who signed and when

What still needs paper or a notary: wills in most states, some property transactions, some court documents, and anything the receiving institution specifically requires in ink. When in doubt, ask the institution rather than assuming.

Dealing with government agencies

Most federal and state agencies now handle the majority of business online, and it is usually faster than calling.

Social Security: a "my Social Security" account at ssa.gov handles statements, benefit verification, address changes and direct deposit.

Medicare: an account at medicare.gov for claims, coverage and plan details.

IRS: an account at irs.gov for records, payment history and transcripts.

State agencies vary, and all use the same principle below.

The rule for agency websites

Type the address yourself, or use a bookmark. Never a link in an email, a text, or a search advertisement.

Government sites end in .gov. A site ending in .com, .org or .net offering government services is either a paid intermediary or a fraud. Both charge for things the agency does free.

Agencies do not initiate contact by phone or email asking for details. The IRS, Social Security and Medicare all say this explicitly. A call claiming your benefits are suspended is a fraud regardless of what the caller ID shows. See the call from your bank.

Nobody legitimate asks for your one-time code. See two-factor authentication.

Set up the accounts before you need them. Creating one when you are dealing with a problem, under time pressure, is harder — and it is also when people are most likely to click a link they should not.

Storing documents

What to keep on paper, regardless of anything else: the will, property deeds, birth and marriage certificates, and anything with an original signature or seal that would be difficult to replace.

What is fine digitally: statements, tax records, insurance policies, receipts, correspondence.

Scan the paper ones as a copy, not as a replacement. A phone camera in daylight is adequate, and scanning apps that flatten the perspective are free.

Keep a copy somewhere that is not your house. Cloud storage, or a copy with a family member. Fire and flood take paper.

Tell someone where they are. The most common problem is not that documents were lost — it is that nobody else knew where they were. See what happens to your accounts.

Cloud storage without confusion

You are probably already using it. iCloud, Google Drive and OneDrive are storage that lives on a company's servers and syncs to your devices.

It is a backup and it is not a safe. Anything in it is only as protected as the account holding it, which is why two-factor authentication on that account matters.

Do not put unencrypted copies of highly sensitive documents in it — Social Security cards, passports, account numbers in plain files. If you do, use the password protection built into the document format.

Check what is syncing. Storage running out is usually photographs, and it is worth knowing rather than discovering when a backup silently stops.

Signature requests that are fraudulent

A growing format, because people trust the familiar interface of a signing service.

An unexpected request to sign something you were not expecting — an invoice, a delivery form, a document from a name you half-recognise.

The link goes to a copy of the signing service's login page, and what you are actually giving away is your email password.

The check is the same as always: do not use the link. Contact the sender through a route you already had, or log in to the signing service directly by typing its address.

The habits worth having

• Type agency addresses yourself; use bookmarks
• Anything ending in .gov, nothing else, for government services
• Read before signing, however convenient the signature is
• Download and keep your own copy of everything you sign
• Paper for the irreplaceable, digital for everything else
• One person knows where both are

For additional public information on retirement benefits and planning, see Social Security Administration.