Right of Control

• The law requires that if your signature is unique, you posses the right to control it. This right carries the condition that not more than one person use the same signature. Your identity should also be able to be determined or verified as the owner of the signature. Nevertheless, the fact that the signature may be different from your name may not automatically invalidate the document.
  
  

Absence of Statutory Prohibition

• You are free to use any symbol, figure, character or designation that you may wish to adopt as your signature unless there is legal requirement against it. Whenever you use any of these as a substitute for your name, you become automatically bound by it. For instance, if a contract refers to "Robert Robinson," but you sign your name as "Bob Robinson," the contract still legally applies. Additionally, you can use the name of your business firm, or a fictitious name. You do not have to write your full name, as your middle name may not be significant.
  
  

Signing Authorization

• When you have been duly authorized by someone else to sign a document for him, then you can go ahead and sign. In the event that a statute mandates that a document must be signed by you in person, then you must authorize that signature and it must be signed in the presence of a witness.
  
  

Signing as a Witness

• In a situation where you intend to sign as a witness and instead accidentally sign the document where the principal signatory is supposed to sign, you should write a note that you were supposed to sign as a witness. When you intend to sign as the principal signatory and instead you sign where the witness is supposed to sign, you should leave a note that you were supposed to sign as the principal signatory.
  
  

Using Abbreviations, Mark and Initials

• When signing documents where a complete signature is not required, you can append a signature using the initial letters of your name, such as R.R., or perhaps an initial together with your surname, such as R. Robinson. Usually, if you are unable to write, you can make an "X" mark or a cross and it has a binding effect similar to an individual writing his signature. In some federal statutes, a mark is included in the definition of signature, taking into account individuals who are illiterate or infirm.
  
  

Relationship With the Signed Document

• If the information within the signed document is changed afterward without your consent, you should be in position to verify that such alterations were made by producing a copy of the original document. This is why it is always advisable to make a copy of the original document for your own reference.