Estate Planning in the Age of Coronavirus
Do you have a will? A health care proxy? A living will? Are they current — and does someone know where they are and how to access them?
The pandemic created a sudden, widespread recognition that these documents matter — and that many people either don't have them or haven't updated them in years. Attorney Larry Peck shared the following guidance, which I'm passing along because it's important and timely even beyond the pandemic context.
Video Witnessing: What Changed
Estate planning attorneys saw a dramatic surge in demand for wills and related documents during the pandemic. In response, New York's Governor issued executive orders permitting video-witnessing and video-notarizing of wills and related documents. This allowed people to sign essential documents safely at home rather than visiting offices — an option that has continued to expand in many states.
Update Your Health Care Directives
Advance health care directives should explicitly authorize your agent to communicate via telephone, video conferencing, email, and other remote methods. This is now essential — healthcare decisions during emergencies often happen remotely, and your directive needs to account for that reality.
Critical: Old living wills that prohibit ventilator use could prove problematic in a respiratory emergency. If your living will was drafted many years ago, have it reviewed. The world has changed; your directives should reflect your current wishes with specificity.
Guardianship for Children
Parents of minor children should designate guardians through a formal standby guardianship arrangement. This ensures temporary care is in place immediately if both parents become incapacitated — without requiring a court proceeding under emergency conditions.
Location Matters as Much as Content
The best-drafted documents in the world are useless if no one knows where they are. Someone you trust — a family member, attorney, or executor — must know the physical or digital location of your will, health care proxy, living will, and any other critical documents. And they must be able to access them when needed, not just know they exist somewhere.
If this is on your list of things you'll get to eventually, the pandemic made the case for doing it now. It remains the case.