To formally sign a legal document in front of a witness and/or notary describes which action?

• A. Executed
• B. Capacity
• C. Real property
• D. Fiduciary

Answer: (A)

Signing a legal document in front of a witness and/or notary is called execution. This term refers to the formal act of completing the instrument with the required signatures and, when needed, attestation or acknowledgment by witnesses or a notary, which makes the document legally enforceable. In estate planning, many instruments—wills, powers of attorney, deeds, trusts—must be executed to be valid. Capacity concerns whether the person signing had the mental ability to understand and intend the act at signing, which is a separate requirement. Real property relates to what the document concerns (property ownership) rather than the signing act, and fiduciary describes a role or relationship of responsibility, not the act of signing. So the action described is execution.