Listen to Lawrence – NY State Allows Remote Witnessing during COVID Crisis

NEW YORK STATE IS NOW ALLOWING REMOTE WITNESSING OF ESTATE PLANNING DOCUMENTS IN AN EFFORT TO GET YOUR DOCUMENTS DONE WITHOUT HAVING TO LEAVE YOUR HOME!

Dear clients and friends,

The ongoing pandemic continues to shine a spotlight on the need for proper estate planning documents to be put in place and New York State is responding by again making it even easier to get this done without leaving your house.

Governor Cuomo, by Executive Order dated April 7, 2020, has now allowed documents to be witnessed via remote video conferencing. In other words, you can achieve peace of mind by having your estate planning documents witnessed through your phones, computers and iPads! We now have the tool we need to safely finalize your wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care proxies, living wills and all other documents that require witnesses.

This is how we can now do it:

An attorney in our office will virtually supervise your document signing and witnessing but certain rules have to now be followed, such as:

– During the video conference, you must present a valid photo ID to the witnesses if they are not already acquainted with you; and
– The video conference must have direct and live (no recordings) interaction between you, the witnesses and our supervising attorney; and
– The witnesses must receive a copy of the signature page from you, which can be sent electronically on the same date you signed the document; and
– The witnesses will then sign the electronic copy of the signature page and send it back to you; and then lastly….
– The witnesses may repeat the witnessing of the original signature page as of the date of execution as long as the witnesses receive the original signature pages together with the electronically witnessed copies within thirty days after the date of the original signing.

I know it sounds complicated, but we can walk you through the process, making it as easy as possible. Email us at info@davidowlaw.com or call us and leave a message at 631-234-3030 to set up either a telephone or video conference. We will get through this together. Davidow, Davidow, Siegel & Stern continues to be Here for You Now when you may need us the most.

Please pass this information on to your family and friends and continue to keep your questions coming! We look forward to hearing from you.

LISTEN TO LAWRENCE!

BE SAFE!