What happens when an electronic signature is disputed?

This is general information, not legal advice. How a specific dispute is resolved depends on the facts, the document, and the jurisdiction.

Disputes over an electronic signature almost always come down to one of three claims. Each has a different kind of evidence that answers it.

This is answered by the audit trail, not the signature image itself. The relevant record is: the invitation was sent to a specific email address, that link was opened from a specific IP address and device at a specific time, and a signature was added minutes later in the same session. On its own this doesn't prove a named human clicked the button — it proves the sender's link was used. Combined with other context (the person's own email account, a pattern of correspondence agreeing to the deal beforehand), it becomes strong circumstantial evidence.

This is also why sending a signing link to a verified, known email address matters more than it might seem — see how to request a signature by email

This is answered directly by a checksum. The Certificate of Completion records the SHA-256 hash of the exact final PDF at the moment signing completed. If a version is produced later that doesn't match that hash, the mismatch itself is the evidence — no interpretation required. Hashing your copy of the document and comparing it to the certificate takes a minute and settles the question either way. See what is an electronic signature audit trail? for how the hash chain behind this works.

This is the hardest of the three to resolve with document evidence alone, because it's usually a dispute about a conversation, not the document. What helps: the audit trail shows the recipient opened and viewed the actual document before signing, which weighs against a claim that they never saw the terms. If specific clauses mattered — a payment schedule, an IP clause, a liability cap — an initials field placed directly on that clause (not just a signature at the end) creates a stronger, clause-specific record that they saw and acknowledged it. This is worth building into how you place fields when you first send a document that has contentious terms; see how to sign a contractor agreement online for where this applies in practice.

• The final signed PDF and the Certificate of Completion, downloaded and stored outside the platform as well as inside it.
• Any correspondence agreeing to the terms before the document was sent — emails, messages — since the audit trail alone doesn't capture the negotiation.
• If it reaches a lawyer or a court, the certificate's chain summary hash and document checksum are the pieces to hand over first — they are the parts a third party can verify independently, without trusting either side's word.

• Send to a verified email address you've corresponded with before, not one given to you secondhand.
• Use required fields and initials on the clauses that matter most, not just a signature at the end.
• Keep the certificate and final PDF somewhere you'll actually find them again — filed with the invoice, the lease, or the case file for that relationship.

Every Signavos document ends with the evidence this article describes: see how the Signavos audit trail and certificate work.