A verifiable seal for the practice's paper — and straight talk about wet ink.
Engagement letters, mandates, fee agreements, settlements and counsel briefs sign electronically, sealed so the other side can verify them without trusting you — or us. Wills, property transfers and the rest of Schedule 2 don't, and we'll tell you that on the front page rather than let you find out mid-matter.
No credit card to start — Personal plan included.
Move matters along
Engagement to settlement without printing, scanning or chasing a client into chambers. Most documents go out by link and come back signed the same day.
Evidence-grade sealing
Certification signature, SHA-256 fingerprint, independent timestamp — verifiable by anyone at /verify, including opposing attorneys, without a KuduDoc account.
Boundaries, stated plainly
The ECT Act excludes certain documents from electronic signature entirely. We list them on this page instead of burying them — you'd find out anyway.
The everyday paper of a practice, sealed properly
Attorneys and conveyancers sign more than anyone — and almost all of it qualifies for electronic signature:
3. Mandate and Fees
The Client appoints the Firm to act in the matter described in Schedule A. Fees are charged at the rates set out in Schedule B, invoiced monthly and payable within 30 days. A deposit of R15,000 is payable into the Firm's trust account before work commences.
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Engagement letters & fee agreementsSigned before work starts, with the fee basis on record.
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Mandates & authorities to actThe client's instruction, signed and sealed — not inferred from an email.
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Settlement agreementsTerms signed the same day they're reached, before anyone re-thinks them.
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Counsel briefs & instructionsBrief counsel on a signed instruction, not a loose email thread.
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Contingency fee agreementsSigned at the outset, with a sealed copy in the client's hands.
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Client FICA & onboarding packsID, proof of address and POPIA consent in one envelope.
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Cessions, indemnities & waiversThe connective tissue of practice paperwork, signed in minutes.
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Undertakings & letters of demandSigned, timestamped, and provable if the matter escalates.
What still needs wet ink
These aren't product limitations — they're section 4(3) and Schedule 2 of the ECT Act, and no platform design gets around them. Any platform that doesn't say so is hoping you won't check.
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Wills & codicilsExecution still requires paper and witnesses under the Wills Act.
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Bills of exchangeInstruments under the Bills of Exchange Act are excluded outright.
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Sales & transfers of immovable propertyAgreements for the alienation of immovable property still need wet ink — as does the transfer paper lodged at the Deeds Office.
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Long leases of land (20 years +)Leases of immovable property longer than 20 years are excluded.
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Sworn affidavitsThe swearing still happens physically before a Commissioner of Oaths. The sworn original can then be registered, fingerprinted and checked unchanged since sealing — but the oath itself can't move online.
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SuretyshipsSection 6 of the General Law Amendment Act 50 of 1956 requires a suretyship to be signed, and section 13(1) of the ECT Act reserves a statutory signature requirement for an accredited advanced electronic signature. We aren't accredited, so the surety signs in wet ink or through an accredited AES provider. The full reasoning is here.
Why we lead with this. Attorneys notice overclaims, and a platform that tells you everything signs electronically is a platform you can't cite. Everything else in a practice — the engagement letters, settlements, briefs and mandates above — signs electronically under the ECT Act, with a seal that argues for itself.
This page describes the legal framework; it isn't legal advice, and it doesn't confirm any specific document's validity.
Proof the other side can check. Originals that exist once.
Verification
A seal the other side can check without trusting you — or us
Every completed document carries a certification signature, a SHA-256 fingerprint and an independent timestamp, Bitcoin-anchored within hours of sealing. Opposing attorneys, counsel or the court verify all three free at /verify — no account, no request to your office, no taking anyone's word. Before you rely on it in front of someone: our certificate is self-signed, so Adobe Reader reports the signature's validity as "unknown". That says nothing about whether the file changed — the seal breaks on any edit either way — but you should know it before opposing counsel points it out. The full explanation is on our trust page.
See how verification worksControlled Originals
For documents where only one original may exist
Some instruments mean nothing if two identical copies float around. Controlled Originals records who holds the single authoritative original in a registry — transfer is atomic, the previous holder loses control in the same transaction, and any copy you issue is stamped on every page as not the authoritative original.
Explore the productBefore the next matter opens
The ECT Act's Schedule 2 excludes wills and codicils, bills of exchange, agreements for the alienation of immovable property, and leases of land longer than 20 years — those still need wet ink. Two further cases sit outside Schedule 2 but land in the same place. Sworn affidavits: the oath must be taken physically before a Commissioner of Oaths, though the sealed scan can later be checked unchanged since sealing through KuduDoc. And suretyships: a statute requires the signature, so section 13(1) of the ECT Act admits only an accredited advanced electronic signature, which we don't offer. The everyday contractual paper of a practice — engagement letters, mandates, settlements, briefs — qualifies.
Yes — electronic signatures are legally recognised in South Africa under the ECT Act for ordinary agreements, and these fall squarely inside it. What KuduDoc adds is what you can prove afterwards: a certification signature, a SHA-256 fingerprint and an independent timestamp on every completed document. We describe the framework; we don't give legal advice on a specific document.
A registry record of who holds exclusive control of a document. A PDF copy proves nothing about which copy is authoritative; a Controlled Original does. Control transfers atomically — the recipient gains it and the previous holder loses it in the same transaction — every change is written to a hash-chained audit trail, and any copy issued from it is stamped on every page as not the authoritative original, with the registry URL printed on it so its live status can be checked.
Yes. Anyone can drop a document or a hash at /verify — free, no account — and check the certification signature, the fingerprint and the timestamp themselves. The proof is mathematical, not a claim we make about ourselves, which is rather the point when the person checking is on the other side.
5 documents a month are free, forever, no credit card. Sending more than that, or want a team seat? Personal raises that to 10 a month and costs R79/month including VAT for a household of five — that is the annual rate, and month-to-month costs more. Professional adds team seats and unlimited sends; its seat rate is on the full pricing page. Either way, documents you've already sent are never affected by a plan change.
The practice's paper deserves a seal that argues for itself.
Personal plan available · South Africa · POPIA-minded
Also see: Client onboarding & FICA · NDAs & commercial agreements · Suretyships