Dual Signatures on Contracts – Finalsite Enrollment

Overview

If you have the Enrollment module and collecting electronic contracts through the Finalsite Enrollment system, you might choose to use our Dual Signature feature. This allows for one parent/guardian to complete and sign the contract, and then invite a second parent/guardian to log in, review the contract terms, and add their signature as well.

Dual signature requirements are more common with split families or state laws that may require both financially responsible parties to sign a legal document. Standard contract law states that once the first party signs the document, it can no longer be edited after that point.

Dual Signature Workflow Overview
Setting Up Dual Signatures on the Contract
Understanding the Parent Process
Options for Countersigning Contracts

How-To: Understand the Dual Signature Workflow

The process for dual signatures is that the first parent/guardian logs into the Parent Portal and signs the enrollment contract. Once they have signed, there will be a prompt that allows them to invite another parent/guardian associated with that student or a non-household member to co-sign the document.

The co-signer will then receive an email to sign in to an existing Parent Portal Account or create a new one with unique information. Please note: The same email address / account cannot be used for both signers. Two distinct Parent Portal Accounts with different email addresses need to be used for dual signatures.

Either party can pay the deposit; however, the deposit can only be paid after both parties sign the contract. The reason for this is that if the first party signs the document and pays the deposit, but the second party rejects the contract, this poses an issue. The parents should be under the impression that the contract is not valid until both signatures have been applied and the deposit has been paid. See the 'Understand the Parent Process' section below for a full walkthrough of the parent experience with dual signature contracts.

The contract lifecycle for dual signatures is as follows: Pending - Generated - Pending Signatures - Payment Pending - Submitted. Admins can see who signed the contract when it's in a 'Pending Signatures' or 'Pending Payment' status. This is helpful with dual signatures when the admin wants to see who signed the contract first, so they can follow up with the other parent/guardian.

This information is visible on the contact record under the Contract checklist item, and on the enrollment list page by clicking on the Pending Signature or Pending Payment contract status.

How-To: Set Up Dual Signatures on the Contract

To set up the dual signature feature, you will need to add an Additional Signature field (usually contract_signature_2) to your contract form in addition to the standard Signature field. If you need help, Support can assist in setting up dual signatures on your contract.

You may also want to have a Boolean (Yes/No) field on your contract for the second signature to be dependent on. This way, you can set the field to have a default value of 'Yes' on the form, so that dual signature is turned on for all families unless you manually switch it off for a student before generating their contract. IMPORTANT: If you change the value in the dual signature trigger field to 'No' for a student after their contract is generated, you must regenerate the contract so that only one signature field displays.

If you would rather default to only requiring a single signature, but have the option to require dual signatures for some students, don't set a default value and instead set the custom dual signature field to 'Yes' manually from a student's contact record.

How-To: Understand the Parent Process

Parent/Guardian A completes the Contract/Registration Form, making sure to fill out all required fields. Within the Electronic Signature section, Parent/Guardian A signs the document (1), and is notified that an additional signature is required (2). Once they sign, they’ll click 'Next' (3).

Parent/Guardian A is presented with a page to invite another person to co-sign the document. Parent A can select a co-signer by clicking on the 'Send Invite' button. The second signer will receive an email with instructions to log in (or create an account if they don't have one already) and sign the document. Parent A will also see the date and time they signed the document.

Parent/Guardian A will be prompted to confirm sending an invite to the selected co-signer and click the blue Send button to continue.

Parent A will see a confirmation message in green at the top of the page letting them know their invite has been sent.

If the parent/guardian clicks on the blue View Invite button, they can see the details of who was invited to sign the document. On the View Invite window, they can also click on the blue Resend Invite link to resend the link to the second parent/guardian.

Now that Parent A has invited a co-signer, they see the following options listed for the Contract/Registration Form within the Parent Portal checklist:

Pending Additional Signatures: This shows that the second signature still needs to be made.
View Document: Clicking on this button navigates to the beginning of the document for the co-signer to review the document and sign it. The co-signer cannot make any changes to the document since it was already signed by Parent/Guardian A.

Parent/Guardian B then receives the email with instructions to sign the document, similar to the example shown below. Parent/Guardian B then signs into the Parent Portal with their own unique username and password, reviews the document, and signs it. Since the document was previously signed by Parent A, Parent B cannot make any edits to the document - all fields will be read-only.

Once both parents/guardians have signed the contract, either parent/guardian can pay the deposit. Within the Parent checklist, each Parent/Guardian will see the following:

Pending Deposit (1): This shows the deposit still needs to be paid.
Pay Deposit (2): Clicking on this button will navigate to the Deposit page.
View Document (3): Clicking on this button will navigate to the beginning of the Contract/Registration Form.

Once either Parent/Guardian pays the Deposit, they’ll submit the Contract/Registration Form and it will now be marked as complete on the checklist as shown below. No changes can be made unless it is regenerated by the school.

How-To: Countersign Contracts

If you would like to add the signature of a representative from your school, along with the parent/guardian signatures, consider enabling our Contract Countersign feature. This allows you to add an electronic signature or an image of somebody's signature (e.g. your Head of School or Principal) to enrollment contracts after they've been signed by all required parents/guardians.

Learn more:

Additional Resources