When can you legally sign a document on somebody else's behalf, if you have their permission. For example, can a college student sign their parent's name to a FAFSA so that she can file a loan application?
When can you legally sign a document on somebody else's behalf, if you have their permission. For example, can a college student sign their parent's name to a FAFSA so that she can file a loan application?
Broadly speaking, you can sign on somebody else's behalf if (a) you have their permission, (b) it's not a violation of law, (c) the person receiving the document has notice of what you are doing, and (d) they are willing to accept your signature on behalf of the person. When you sign on somebody else's behalf, you should not try to forge their signature -- one common approach is to sign in your own hand and then annotate the signature, "Signed by [your name] with permission".
It would absolutely not be proper to sign a parent's name to FAFSA. The parent needs to sign that document herself.