Dad's house is empty; he needs to sell it. Sister wants every signature observed by a notary; doesn’t want him to e-sign. Advice to inform?

Best thing to do is get Dad to resign as Trustee. Then you and the other co-trustee can take over everything.

My folks did this when my dad became terminally ill. Mom has dementia but was still able to understand enough to resign. It was an enormous help, and I took over everything three weeks before Dad died.

You only can do this if Dad's competent enough to understand. My folks' attorney made sure he was comfortable that I wasn't trying to steal their money, and fortunately, my dad was fully cognizant and able to communicate that to the attorney while I stayed out of the room.

Although many Federal, State, and financial institutions have been accepting e signatures, they are beginning to require an actual signature with a reputable witness and notary. I like the suggestion of the event being video taped, but many officials are wearing masks, entering homes and facilities with masks, using the minimal officials that maintain legality, and quickly complete business. Some of this is even completed on porches. I understand your frustration. However, if one person is questioning the validity of the situation, my personal view is to cover every possible area that could be questioned. Best wishes.

This is a legitimate realtor selling a home? I know we esigned when we sold our home about 3 hours away, a small place in the country. It is very commonly done today. I cannot recall if there were not some initial papers done and then the final documents done by esign. Realtors know what can and cannot be done in these times; it is after all their license at risk. If they do something on a sale that can be called into question they are sued, named in any suit brought by a new owner.
You might want to run this past a Lawyer, as we are talking POAs and Trusts and Co-trustee and so on. If this is the sale of a home it is worth the hour paid to a lawyer to be certain you are not making a mistake.
I hope others will chime in. There are some really knowledgeable people on the Forum. But it is just my belief in big stuff like this, like taxes and etc that it is much better to be safe than sorry.

Real estate may have changed but when I was working most signatures did have to be notarized and witnessed.    With agreements though, pages could be executed and e-mailed or faxed to the attorneys involved, who assembled them into complete documents.

Jcondliffe, your dad doesn't need to be able to write legibly if he's physically not able to.    When my sister executed end of life documents, my attorney came to the hospital, I presented ID, and the attorney witnessed and notarized my sister's "signature."

In another situation, one of the attorneys I worked for took a notary with her to visit a dying client, and the documents were executed at the client's home, the day before she died.

See if she'll agree to accept a video of him signing or giving verbal consent that you take with your phone, as well as his esignature. My 85-yr old MIL eventually forgot how to write within 1 year's time, can't sign her name or even make an X. She can comprehend and can read. Hasn't had a stroke that we can tell. Just lost the ability to write, so hurry and have him do it.

My DD is a realtor, and they use esign for everything now,, thanks to COVID. No problems with it these days. Could she be stalling on the sale?