Why DocuVault requires Elite

DocuVault is NearbySpy's e-signing workflow for retainers, releases, NDAs, and other documents that need legally meaningful signatures. It is gated to the Elite plan. This article explains the reasoning behind that gate, what changes if your subscription lapses, and what your options are if you need signing but are not yet on Elite.

Why DocuVault is Elite-only

Signed documents carry legal weight. The platform that produces them takes on a meaningful share of responsibility — for the integrity of the document, the audit trail of who signed what and when, the authenticity of the signers, and long-term storage of the originals. Three things follow from that:

• Per-document cost. DocuVault is built on a third-party signing engine (DocuSeal) and each completed envelope has a real cost attached to it. The Elite plan absorbs that cost as part of the subscription.
• Verification bar. Elite accounts have completed a higher verification bar than entry-level accounts. Anyone the recipient sees as a "verified Investigator on NearbySpy" went through that bar before they could send signing requests.
• Support and recovery. When something goes wrong with a signed document — a missed signature, a lost copy, a dispute — the platform owes a higher level of investigation than it owes for, say, a missed message. Elite provides the support tier that makes that recovery possible.

What you can still do without Elite

You can do everything else in NearbySpy without Elite. Cases, Operations, Evidence (with SHA-256 hashing and the immutable audit trail), Client invitations, messaging, video calls, and the Report Writer all work on entry-level plans. The only thing missing is sending and receiving signatures. See What the Elite plan unlocks for the full list.

What happens if your Elite subscription lapses

If your Elite renewal fails and is not recovered during the grace window:

• Documents already completed and stored stay accessible for download. You will not lose signed originals because you lapsed.
• Documents in flight (sent but not yet fully signed) cannot be advanced — recipients can still sign their part, but you cannot send new envelopes or finalize new ones.
• Sending new documents is blocked until Elite is restored.

To restore Elite, update the card on file from the Billing area. Restoration is immediate.

If you only need to sign occasionally

If your practice only needs the signing flow once or twice a quarter, the math may still favor a single month of Elite around the time you need it, then cancellation. The plan is month-to-month, so you can subscribe, send the documents you need, and cancel before the next renewal. See Completing Elite checkout for the upgrade flow.

Next steps

If you are ready to send signing requests, continue with Preparing PDFs and sending for signature. If you are the recipient of a signing link rather than the sender, see Opening a DocuSeal signing link as a signer.