Coronavirus and Your Estate Plan:
Utilizing the Virtual Law Firm
By Matthew Matrisciano, updated May 14, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has many wondering which parts of our normal lives need to be modified or postponed. There is still so much uncertainty. It is clearly not the best time to take that cruise you planned, but some of our goals can still be accomplished despite the situation and government response to it. MGM Law Firm is committed to help you accomplish your estate planning goals. Using telephone and video chat conferencing, you can talk to an expert from the comfort of your own home, review drafts, and even sign your trust.
MGM Law Firm can send drafts of your will, trust, power of attorney, advance health care directive, and other estate planning documents to your phone or computer at home using secure cloud transfers and email. Drafts can also be printed and mailed for those who like to review documents on paper. MGM Law Firm is not a true “virtual” law firm because we have one physical office. This enables clients to come into the office to sign documents if they wish to do so. However, we strive to make every service we offer available without the need to come into our office in downtown Bend, Oregon.
Our office serves estate planning clients in Oregon as well as the entire states of California and Washington.
Signing documents is the only piece that requires other people be present because for most estate plans you need a notary and two witnesses. My office has offered several options to clients for will and trust signings but most elect to come into the office into a sterile and social distancing environment. In most states, including Oregon and Washington, a will must have two witness signatures to be valid. Depending on the state, witnesses can appear by video if certain precautions are met. If you can’t find any witnesses, California allows holographic wills if certain conditions are met. Holographic wills require you to handwrite all or part of the will and generally do not require witness signatures although they are still preferable. In Oregon and Washington, holographic wills are not valid. Witnesses can be any disinterested person (meaning they aren’t potentially receiving anything in the documents). An option for a notary, if you don’t have one available to you, would be a traveling notary. When helping to set up the traveling notary, my office will ask that certain precautions are met to reduce potential exposure to any contagion. My office will pay the notary fee, if there is one. When you hire our law firm, there are no hidden fees such as those from mailing costs or notaries.
Whether we use a telephone and we mail drafts and revisions, or we have an interactive video chat and exchange documents using secure cloud storage software, MGM Law Firm is committed to provide the same superior quality services and expert advice that our clients have always received.