Setting internal document deadlines before completion day
Fixing a completion date without controlling when documents will arrive is one of the most reliable ways to end up reviewing under pressure. Document delivery deadlines are not administrative detail — they determine whether you can complete with confidence or whether you are improvising at the last minute.
Why completion day is too late
When documents arrive on the day of completion, the time available for review is whatever gap exists between their arrival and the signing table. That window is almost always too short.
Proper review means comparing data across documents, not just reading one in isolation. If a client's identity document arrives on the morning of completion, you cannot check it against the details already held in the matter file. If a power of attorney is brought in by the party who intends to rely on it, you have no opportunity to confirm it falls within the scope and time limits your practice requires.
Errors caught at that stage can rarely be corrected without delaying or aborting the transaction.
A working rule: how far in advance
There is no single deadline that fits every matter, but there is a logic that holds:
- Identity documents: at least two working days before. Enough time to spot a name or date discrepancy and request clarification without urgency.
- Powers of attorney and authority documents: three working days minimum. If you need to confirm the scope of authority or check that the power has not lapsed, you need time to raise the question.
- Title documents and prior contracts: five working days if you can arrange it. That gives you time to identify registered charges, conditions, or references that will need to appear in the deed.
- Documents from counterparties or third parties: the same as above. Do not assume they will arrive on the day.
These timelines are not arbitrary. They reflect the review time required to do the job without cutting corners.
How to communicate deadlines to clients and counterparties
Clients and their counterparties do not know what you need or when. Assuming they will work it out is an assumption you pay for yourself.
When you confirm the completion date, send a list of documents required with a delivery deadline for each. Not a generic checklist — a list specific to that matter, with the party's name and a description of each document.
If a document has not arrived three days before the deadline, you chase it. You do not wait for the parties to remember.
What to do when a document arrives late
If a document arrives after the deadline you set, there are two honest options:
Review it anyway, knowing you are doing so with less time than you need. This is defensible if the document is straightforward and the time remaining still allows a minimum standard of review.
Defer completion. If a document arrives too late to review properly and the transaction depends on it, deferring is the right call. A deed completed on unverified information carries a risk that no deadline is worth.
Reviewing quickly and hoping it is fine is not an option.
Making delivery timelines part of the matter file
When you open a matter, the expected delivery date for each document should be recorded alongside the document itself. Not just "obtain client ID", but "client ID for X: requested on date Y, required by date Z".
That turns document control into something trackable: you can see at a glance what has arrived, what is outstanding, and how much time remains to follow up before it becomes a problem.
It also gives you a record if someone later asks why the transaction was delayed or why a problem was not caught before completion: you have a log of what you asked for and when it arrived.
If you'd like support with document review and verification in your practice, VerifyAct has tools built for that.