Estate planning is the process of making preparations such that a party’s assets and financial resources are taken care of after their demise.
While it is a complex process, it primarily involves making arrangements for the distribution of assets and financial resources of a party to beneficiaries.
Making a Will is an essential part of estate planning. Depending on the nature of your estate, you can either prepare a simple Will or a complex Will.
While traditionally they have always been prepared using paper and physical documents, in this article we explore the concept of preparing paperless Wills.
This is an important topic especially when we consider the need to become more environment friendly. Today we have digital options in every aspect of our lives.
Therefore, it is important to consider sustainable estate planning options that includes using digital means to prepare Wills and estate planning documents by going completely paperless.
Digital Estate Planning and Wills
Those who are considering digital estate planning must first appoint an executor. An executor is the person responsible for administering estate after the death of a Will-maker or testator.
Currently, the legislation around digital estate planning is still not extensive. While this may pose challenges, needless to say, with the digital resources available to us today, there is great potential for progress.
Many people use online Will templates to prepare their digital Will. This is not the best alternative as there is a lot of room for error if a person opts to prepare their Will using digital templates. Therefore even when preparing digital Wills, it is important to seek legal advice.
This is because each state and jurisdiction have different requirements that parties need to follow in order to make a Will legal and valid.
Advantages of Going Paperless for Wills
One great advantage of paperless Wills is that it can be stored safely. There is no risk of misplacing the document. Moreover, whenever required, it is easier to share copies of paperless Wills to concerned parties such as beneficiaries.
In numerous occasions, people find themselves in a difficult situation because they misplace their Will. If this happens before the testator passes away, they will be obliged to go through the Will-making process all over again.
Moreover, if this happens after a testator passes away, the executors and beneficiaries of the Will may face a serious challenge. This can also lead to disputes among the executors and beneficiaries.
Importance of Being Eco-Friendly
As mentioned above, most importantly, it is necessary to be eco-friendly. Therefore, as much as possible, we must look into ways to embrace eco-friendly means of completing various tasks both in our personal and professional lives.
The challenge with electronic Wills is that there are not many provisions for it to be authenticated and made legally valid. For instance, in some states in Australia, the primary requirement is that the Will should be made in writing and then signed by witnesses.
This requirement makes it impossible for a person to prepare a legally valid and authenticated digital Will. Another important consideration in this regard would be to find out ways to ensure that digital signatures of testators are authentic.
Author info: –
John Bui is the Principal Solicitor of JB Solicitors – a law firm based in Sydney, Australia. John is a Nationally Accredited family law Mediator and Arbitrator with over 10 years’ experience in family law and commercial litigation.
