As estate practitioners, we continually remind our clients to
update their estate planning documents and ensure they reflect
their current intentions. A further key consideration is how estate
planning documents should be properly recorded, stored and
safeguarded.
In order to embrace the digital era, the legal community has
made significant strides in digitizing legal documents,
particularly in the areas of corporate law (documents are often
signed digitally including in major transactions) and
document-management. We are frequently asked by our clients whether
wills can be digitally signed and stored. Although several
jurisdictions, including Nevada and Florida, have introduced or
proposed legislation for digital wills (please see our
blog on this topic), no legislation has been introduced in
Canada. What are the procedures for properly recoding and safely
storing original documents?
