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Contracts, forms, etc. often include a "Date" field next to the "Signature" field. (In some areas, such as , a "Location" field is also common.) I'm used to always writing in the current date in this field.

Lately I've been interacting with a service provider who, on a regular basis, requires me to sign a form on which the dates and times of the provided service are written. I'm thereby acknowledging that the services were performed. At the bottom of the form - separate from the table where the service dates/times are entered - is a line like:

Date: ________     Signature: _______________

Lately the provider has been asking me to please leave the "Date" field blank. Their explanation (which I don't understand) was that they collect all the forms for a given month, and these may then be processed during the next month, so they need to be able to fill in the correct date at the time the forms are processed. (The nature of the service being provided involves these forms eventually being submitted to an insurance company and apparently that has something to do with it.)

I ignored the request and filled in the current date anyway. This went without comment a few times, but now the provider is really insisting that I must leave the date field blank. I don't think this is right, and therefore have begun refusing to sign the forms at all.

As I see it, because the dates of service are entered separately and not in dispute, the actual date of the signature should be totally irrelevant to them - and in any case should be accurate. Am I doing the right thing? Is there any legitimate (and/or legal) need for me to need to leave the field blank so they can fill it in however they like later? What are our respective rights/obligations regarding the signature field?

TypeIA
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2 Answers2

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A written contract by law doesn't need a date (or specific location) it was signed on.

But obviously having no date poses certain problems, especially if the contract is about time sensitive things. Even if nothing of that sort is specifically mentioned in the contract itself, legal minimums might apply that indeed are dependent on a date.

Adding the date by themselves, without your knowledge about what is going to be entered is super shady. There is no drawback to you dating your signature. You could sign a contract that starts in the future, and you could sign it today with todays date. That is... about any contract I have ever seen. Starting work next month? Buying a car tomorrow? Ordering from Amazon? There is no problem signing on one date and the contract being fulfilled on another.

This is a marching band of red flags. With drums, trumpets and a band major marching in front.

If they needed a different date field for their purposes, they could simply insert another one and label it properly.

My personal guess is that they are playing the insurance. They probably get paid for X per month, and if yours is inconvenient to handle in one month, they'll just fake it into a month that is better paid by whatever payment scheme they have to adhere to. And they will only know that, at the end of the period. That is the only logical conclusion apart from total incompetence. They probably lie to get a financial benefit, commonly known as fraud.

Whether you want to be part of that is up to you and not a legal question. There is not reason to let them decide when your signature took place, after the fact.

nvoigt
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Writing in a date which isn't the date of the signature can constitute fraud under Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 and/or forgery under Section 1 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981; you're creating a document which represents that it was signed on that day when it wasn't. Despite that, it's not that uncommon to see this practice.

Leaving a date blank can be valid for certain types of legal instruments (e.g. deeds) where the act of writing the date is what executes the document. However it should be clear from the document that this is the intention and that the date in question is for that purpose. You would normally see this referred to as the "date of the agreement" or something similar, as opposed to the date of the signature.

If you want a contract to commence on some date other than when it was signed, the correct approach is to put a clause (and a date) to that effect somewhere else in the document. A contract can be agreed on one date but commence on some other date; there is nothing wrong with that as long as it's clearly set out in the contract.

JBentley
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