Estate Planning

Deathbed Signings.

By Jennifer Sawday

Our firm attorneys routinely make visits to where the client is located to execute their estate planning documents. We bring a notary to notarize the documents and to act as a witness during these signings.

We prefer not to make these visits because it almost always means that the client is suffering from an illness, is terminal or otherwise not able to make it to one of our offices. In other words, it means we are handling an estate plan in a precarious time and situation. The timing because the client is dying or aging rapidly... the situation because the estate plan could be contested for lack of capacity or undue influence.

But we do make these visits.

Things to be aware of:

• When we visit the clients, we reserve the right to leave without executing the estate plan if we feel the client has no capacity or is being unduly influenced.
  
• It costs more. You have to pay for travel time and related costs. And possibly even a rush fee.
  
• It's harder to understand the nature of your own estate plan when you are not feeling well.
  
• And it's a final realization that your estate planning should have been taken care of earlier. Instead of focusing on your health, well-being and comfort, you are focusing on stressful matters like estate planning in a very precarious time and situation.

Think about getting your affairs in order now while life and the living is good. You won't regret it.

Full post as published by Estate Planning Practice Blog on May 08, 2008 (boomark / email).