Since the spread of the coronavirus, the Court has received inquiries whether the Court would enter a general order temporarily waiving the requirement to obtain an original signature from debtors for electronic filing. Our local rules do not have that requirement. NM LBR 5005-2(c) provides:

Any paper physically signed and filed electronically, or filed in paper form and thereafter converted to an electronic document by the clerk has the same force and effect as an original. Verified or certified papers filed electronically shall be treated for all purposes (both civil and criminal, including penalties for perjury) as if they had been physically     signed and/or subscribed. An attorney shall not file a paper requiring a person’s signature without obtaining the person’s signature before filing.  

NM LBR 9011-1(b) provides that “[t]he court will treat a reproduced signature on any document filed with the court as an original signature.” 

Consistent with these rules, attorneys may file a scanned original or copy of a document that reflects the client’s actual signature, whether the signed document is obtained in person, by mail, by facsimile, or by email attachment. It is up to the attorney to ensure and be able to prove the signature is genuine.

At this time the Court is not willing to authorize use of digital signature software programs for the purpose of filing documents that require a person’s signature, nor is /s/ or the person’s name in cursive font sufficient.