Others have made their laws more flexible during the pandemic. Given the pressure by residents anxious to prepare these estate planning documents, some states are now permitting remote online notarization for some of these documents, including Arizona, Iowa and Pennsylvania. Although the Virginia law does not require a will to be notarized, attorneys usually recommend it. In Virginia, for example, the signing of a will must generally be witnessed by two competent persons, who also must sign the will in front of the testator, or person leaving the will. Not easy to do when you're probably hunkered down at home with members of your family to prevent the spread of the virus. Some states require witnesses who are “disinterested parties,” meaning they aren't in line to inherit anything. That's because in most states these important documents require adult (18 or older) witnesses and notarization, a procedure that generally takes place in person and with signatures in front of a notary to be valid. With most states imposing stay-at-home orders and strict social distancing mandates, the mechanics of executing these legally binding documents is requiring some virtual soft-shoe. Making a will - virtuallyīut here's the hitch. Some 52 percent of people age 55-plus don't have a will or the other key estate planning documents that you might need during the pandemic, according to. Little wonder that fear of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has scores of people writing wills and making critical estate planning decisions about who will be in charge of their medical care and finances if they're ill and incapacitated. It's been pretty unusual to get this many requests. “Spurred by the coronavirus pandemic, clients who I haven't heard from in 10 or 15 years, as well as prospective new clients, have been reaching out to update their existing estate planning documents, or write new ones. "Mortality is on the front of their minds,” Rubin said. Rubin, a partner at the New York City law firm of Moses & Singer, who is working from home. En español | In the past few weeks, an escalating number of clients have hurried to meet by videoconference and phone with Daniel S.
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