Estate Planning in Times of COVID-19: What to Know Before You Make Your Move
As COVID-19 continues to surge across the country, people are forced to make difficult economic decisions unlike those they have ever faced before, including moving. With the unstable economy and all of the furrows, layoffs, and government-imposed shutdowns, you may be finding yourself living in a big city, such as New York City or Chicago, with a realization that you are no longer able to reap the benefits like you once could. Faced with this reality, your instinct may be to move to mid-western towns, like Columbus, Ohio for instance, where the cost of living is lower.
The choice seems like a wise one, particularly if you look at it for financial purposes. Why bother living in a big city when the opportunities that made you want to live there in the first place are no longer available? However, while that may be a valid point, you might want to slow down and take a step back. One reason to really do your research with this decision involves your estate planning documents. Particularly with Wills, there are different laws governing its validity in different states. Depending on the state that you are thinking about moving to, there is a risk that your wishes will not be carried out because your Will does not comply with state law. Sound intimidating? Read on to see what you can do to ensure that your wishes will be valid, and to see what you can do to make the moving process a little less stressful.
Trusts Move with You; Other Estate Planning Documents Do Not
The first thing to know deals with your Trust. If you have one, that Trust will be valid in any state you move to regardless of where it was set up unless it was revoked. The following estate planning documents, on the other hand, do not move with you:
Will: A legal document that names people who will inherit your property
Healthcare Durable Power of Attorney: A legal document that allows a specified individual to make healthcare decisions for you if you are no longer able to do so yourself
Living Will: A legal document that outlines the kind of medical care you want if you are terminally ill
Durable Power of Attorney for Finances: A legal document that gives someone the authority to handle financial transactions on your behalf, particularly if you become incapacitated
HIPAA Authorizations: A release document that allows you to name people to be treated with the same rights you have regarding disclosure of medical records
For more detail, please visit https://www.aarp.org/retirement/planning-for-retirement/info-2020/guide-to-virtual-wills-estate-plans.html.
Given the current COVID-19 situation, I think I should make a Will. What are the specific requirements for a Will?
The simple answer: Hire an attorney. Most states generally require estate planning documents, including Wills, to have a witness and to be notarized, however, some states are subject to different rules and formalities. Your best bet is to hire an attorney from that particular state to make sure that all the rules are being followed. If you are planning to move to Ohio, however, here are a couple of requirements to be aware of in order to create a valid Will:
Witness Requirement: In order to create a valid Will in Ohio, you must (1) sign the end of your Will or acknowledge it in front of two witnesses and (2) have your witnesses sign your Will in front of you. A person is qualified to be a witness if he/she is over eighteen years old and is “disinterested,” meaning that he/she is not in line to inherit anything from the Will. In Ohio, it is not necessary for you to be in the same room as your two witnesses when you execute your Will. Ohio has permitted the use of two-way audiovisual communication to securely execute electronic documents and has designated Wills that were executed online to be valid.
No notarization: Unlike some states, in Ohio, you do not need to have your Will notarized to make it legal. In fact, Wills in Ohio do not give you and your witnesses the option of signing a notarized statement at all.
Online Estate Planning Caveats
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to bring about changes in our lives that we can’t foresee, online estate planning may seem like the cheapest and the easiest option. However, the important thing to note, once again, is that different states require different formalities. Courts will not enforce a Will if the document does not meet all of the legal requirements in that particular state. Seeing that many online estate planning documents are not geared towards specific jurisdictions, it is highly probable that these online estate planning documents will not comply with the different formalities across state lines.
The Solution
The best course of action to avoid having invalid estate planning documents is to hire an attorney. Even if you ultimately decide to use an online estate planning website to create your Will, the importance of having an attorney review the documents to ensure that it complies with the state law cannot be understated. And if your next move is to Columbus, Ohio, that is what we are here for. Contact Anthony Law LLC to look over your documents to ensure that your needs are being met. You can also check out our streamlined estate planning process here.