On March 10, 2020, Governor Lamont declared a public health and civil preparedness emergency. By Executive Order 7-Q, Governor Lamont ushered in the age of remotely signed Wills. The coronavirus shuttered people in their homes. People fear that visiting a law firm will compromise their health. State health officials want people to stay in their homes to reduce the spread of COVID-19. People over age 60 have the highest risk of illness and death from COVID-19. Yet, elders are the ones who are most in need of signing Wills, Trusts, Durable Powers of Attorney, and Appointments of Health Care Representative. The Connecticut Bar Association and title insurance companies supported the creation of a way clients could sign estate planning and real estate documents at home.
Executive Order 7-Q allows a person to sign a Will at home. The Order is effective as of March 30, 2020 and remains effective through June 23, 2020. The Order lays out a procedure for signing a Will at home. Here are the steps:
(1) A Connecticut attorney sends the original Will and other estate planning documents to the client’s home. Only a licensed Connecticut attorney in good standing can supervise a remotely signed Will.
(2) The client presents satisfactory evidence of his or her identity while connected to Communication Technology. Communication Technology must enable all parties to be able to communicate with each other by sight and sound. Zoom has become supremely popular for communicating through sight and sound. The good thing about Zoom is that you do not need a Zoom account to communicate with each other. We give our client a password for the signing session.
(3) The Communication Technology must be capable of recording the complete signing.
(4) The client must affirmatively represent by video that he or she is located in Connecticut.
(5) The client signs the documents while thewitnesses and the attorney are watching on video. Attorneys tend to have employees in their office who serve as remote witnesses.
(6) The client must transmit by fax or email a legiblecopy of the signed document directly to the attorney the same day that the document is signed. Consequently, the client will need a scanner and a computer or a fax machine to sign a Will from home.
(7) When the attorney receives the faxed or emailedcopy of the signed Will, the witnesses sign and the attorney notarizes the signed copy.
(8) The attorney sends the witnessed and notarizedcopy back to the client. Fortunately, the return of the document back to the client does not have to occur the same day.
(9) The client will then mail or drop off the originallysigned Will and other estate planning documents to the attorney’s office.
(10) Within 30 days of the original signing, thewitnesses sign and the attorney notarizes the originally signed documents. The witnesses and attorney sign as of the date of the original signing.
(11) The attorney must certify in writing that he orshe supervised the remote witnessing of the Will.
(12) The attorney must keep the recording of thesigning for 10 years.
Executive Order 7-Q also changed the signing requirement for real estate deeds and powers of attorney. During this crisis, those documents no longer require any witnesses. Clients can sign them remotely with the assistance of a notary public or attorney. The same procedure described above applies but without the witnesses. It’s a brave new world.
April 2020, Issue #27
Joe Cipparone wrote the articles in this edition. No taxpayer can avoid tax penalties based on the advice given in this newsletter. This information is for general purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific questions related to your situation, you should consult a qualified estate planning attorney.
