If delivery of a bill of divorce is entrusted to an agent, he must say: It was written in my presence and it was signed in my presence. The Gemara examines the rationale for this and concludes that the halakha is in accordance with the opinion that the reason for this declaration is that there are no witnesses available to ratify it.

Although the Gemara states that since the establishment of the great academies in Babylonia that land has the same status as Eretz Yisrael with regard to bills of divorce, the practical halakha is that all agents of a bill of divorce must state the declaration: It was written in my presence and it was signed in my presence. If the agent failed to state the declaration, the bill of divorce can be ratified in the manner of other legal documents, by means of witnesses who can attest to the authenticity of its signatures.

Most of the special halakhot of bills of divorce apply equally to bills of manumission. One difference is that a bill of divorce is considered to be to the woman's detriment, whereas a bill of manumission is in the interest of a slave, and therefore it can be acquired for him by others in his absence.

Due to the concern that the woman might be left as a deserted wife, the Sages were lenient with regard to bills of divorce. In a certain period, one of the witnesses who signed this document could be a Samaritan, although this practice was later prohibited. Conversely, while other legal documents may sometimes be written and signed by gentiles, bills of divorce of this type are invalid. Furthermore, while bills of acquisition and gifts that were written and signed in the owner's lifetime are valid even if delivered after his death, this is not the case for bills of divorce and bills of manumission. The reason is that these documents are completed only when they are handed to the wife or slave, and therefore they are invalidated by the prior death of the husband or master.