Social Distancing, Creation of Wills and Trusts, and the Coronavirus/COVID 19 Pandemic

Thursday, March 19, 2020

    The current health crisis is causing some people to think seriously about creating a Will or a Trust.  It is causing others who have been thinking of this to stop putting it off, and to start actually working toward finding a lawyer to work with them on estate and incapacity planning.

    The current situation has also freed up time for many workers, who now are able to work from home, and create their own schedule, including making time to meet with a lawyer to talk about estate planning.

    Because of social distancing protocols, some people are reluctant to visit a lawyer’s office, however.

    While it can be more difficult to explain things over the telephone or in other remote meeting methods, it is possible to meet in this way if a person does not want to sit across the desk from a lawyer for an hour or more while working with the lawyer on an estate and incapacity plan.

    These plans can include the creation or Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Nominations of Guardians and Conservators, Remains Disposition documents that give a specific person powers to work with funeral directors, Advance Directives for Health Care, and related documents, such as deeds putting real estate into trusts, and other documents, including Certifications of Trust.

    As outlined in an earlier post, methods of signing documents while limiting contact can also be implemented.