"Electronic wills" refer to legally binding documents that outline a person's desires for the distribution of their property and assets after they die, but are created, stored, and signed electronically using technology like computers or smartphones, instead of traditional paper-based methods.
Full definition
Well, along comes another wave of technology — this time in the form
of electronic wills legislation.
However, the function of the enabling power is to
allow electronic will - making as a matter of course when the time is right.
The true tests will be whether products
pushing electronic wills are usable, and whether people actually begin to use them for estate planning.
This would allow the Government to bring forward secondary legislation to enable the use of
electronic wills at a time when it is feasible to do so.
At the end of the article, the author predicted that with new
technology electronic wills and digital storage of estate planning documents may become a hot topic in many states.
Before this legislation there was not any specific prohibition
against electronic wills, but this legislation creates new laws specifically recognizing them as valid.
The experience of other jurisdictions and our assessment of various methods of electronic authentication inform our provisional proposal of an enabling power to pave the way for the introduction
of electronic wills.
Given the current state of the law, a comprehensive statutory framework
for electronic wills will provide clarity while reducing the burden on the courts.
In 2017, the Florida Legislature approved House Bill 277 promulgating the new Florida
Electronic Wills Act (FEWA).
The ULCC followed the Alberta Law Reform Institute's recommendation that specific rules
on electronic wills were not needed.
The drafters of the
Florida Electronic Wills Act apparently took the Bar's concerns seriously, and have incorporated extensive safeguards into the final version of the statute.
6.13 The greatest gains, not just for individual testators but also the probate system as a whole, could be offered by a system that linked up
fully electronic wills with the probate service.
Accordingly, this paper argues in favor of legislation
authorizing electronic wills made in compliance with a set of electronic formalities suited to the modern age.
Although the bills are being pushed by Bequest it is likely that other companies like legal services giant Legal Zoom as well as several smaller companies create products to
offer electronic wills.
6.37 Considering the numerous potential ways in
which electronic wills could be made, we are cautious of proposing overly specific primary legislation.
Consistently employs a system for ensuring the safekeeping of electronic records and stores electronic records
containing electronic wills under the system; and
EDM as a popular trend has subsided from its early - 2000s peak, and
while electronic will never go away, the pop charts have drifted toward more traditional, less garish genres in the past few years.
Solar - connected Gadgets: Companies that make solar power
consumer electronic will be all over the place, including: Voltaic Systems, makers of solar - powered backpacks (we have 2 Voltaic backpacks among the GigaOM crew); Meraki Networks, makers of solar - powered Wi - Fi gear; and Freeplay Energy, which makes solar - powered radios.
5.96 That said, we note that the potential recognition of
electronic wills via a dispensing power is a double - edged sword.
Tightly specifying the necessary technical requirements may have the effect of preventing the adoption of
electronic wills rather than enabling their adoption.
6.36 Secondly, the infrastructure required to
support electronic will - making must be viable, both technologically and commercially.
The Joint Editorial Board for the Uniform Trusts and Estates Act has recommended that the Uniform Law Commission form a drafting committee to come up with proposed uniform legislation
governing electronic wills and presumably related documents.
«Others, such as enabling wills to be made electronically in the future, raise important but challenging questions, especially on how
safe electronic wills would be from fraud or undue influence against vulnerable people.
If the law were to
accept electronic wills alongside paper wills, it would be important for judges to be able to identify the «original» electronic record of the testator's will.
This can be accomplished using current technology, in one of two ways: (1) by a statutory framework providing a safe harbor for the creation and storage of electronic documents by a reliable custodian, or (2) using document security technology to track access and alterations to
electronic wills bearing electronic signatures.
Such electronic wills can serve the evidentiary function by providing a record of the testator's intent that can be reliably preserved and authenticated by a probate judge through a standard evidentiary investigation.
Furthermore, we
believe electronic wills can serve the evidentiary function just as well as, if not better than, paper documents.
The advantage clearly goes to the large technological companies that can
scale electronic will capabilities with programmers and web designers, not to mention having the resources to serve as qualified custodians.
The Law Commission wishes to pave the way for the introduction of
electronic Wills so that text messages, emails and voicemails could be considered legally binding as a person's Will.
The state of Florida is taking the lead in considering changing the storied laws of probate to
include electronic wills.
The Uniform Law Conference of Canada discussed whether the «substantial compliance» rules would allow
for electronic wills in a discussion paper published in 2000.
The Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar («RPPTL Section») came out publicly against the Florida
Electronic Wills Act, arguing in this white paper that as originally drafted the act didn't contain sufficient safeguards to protect testators from exploitation.
Florida is considering legalizing
fully electronic wills, which could simplify and increase access to probate services.