COVID-19 and Estate Planning
Two and a bit more weeks of strict lockdown here in the ACT in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of us have been working from home, our children are managing home-schooling, we’re getting COVID-tested as directed, and we are isolating for the benefit of our community.
We have in the past few weeks received questions from potential and existing clients about their estate planning in general as we ride this lockdown, so we thought we’d keep everyone in the loop!
New Wills and Estate Planning Clients
To those of you out there who are considering getting a Will and Enduring Power of Attorney done, and perhaps have considered it for a while now - you don’t have to delay due to the lockdown. If anything, we are finding that families have more time with each other at home to discuss their instructions and to gather the information they need to get the process started.
For the duration of this lockdown, we are facilitating meetings with clients via Zoom and this will remain an option even when restrictions ease.
For all our new Wills and Estate Planning clients, we typically start off the process with a complimentary initial meeting to discuss your instructions for your estate plan. Before the initial meeting, we will send you a form that will allow you to provide us with some background about your life, including your family, your asset structure, and specific concerns. Having knowledge of this will allow the meeting to run more smoothly and allow us to flag areas where you may require further advice.
We offer fixed fees for all our estate planning matters and will confirm our quote after the meeting with you.
Existing Terracon Legal Wills & Estate Planning clients
To our existing clients, rest assured that we are continuing to work on your matters remotely and we can be contacted via telephone or email. Your draft documents including Wills and Enduring Powers of Attorneys, as per our usual practice, will continue to be sent to you via email for review.
For those wanting to finalise their estate planning matter, there is of course the question of how signing meetings will be conducted during this time, and there are several options that we are offering:
If your documents are ready to be signed, we can send you the final documents to print at home, or we can send you hard copies to be signed and witnessed by video link. There is legislation in place in the ACT COVID-19 Emergency Response Act 2020 (ACT) that allows for documents to be validly witnessed where it would otherwise be compulsory for the witnesses to be in the physical presence of a signatory; or
We can organize a meeting at the office to have the documents signed and witnessed in person. This does involve mandatory check-ins when attending the office, wearing masks for the duration of the meeting, and remaining socially distant as best possible while signing. In consideration of the seriousness of the current COVID-19 situation in the ACT, we reserve this option only for emergencies;
The remaining option is to watch as the situation evolves, and we can schedule a signing meeting once restrictions are lifted.
If you have any questions about the process or would like to have the process started for yourself and your family, feel free to drop us an email at ying@terraconlegal.com.au or give us a call on (02) 6128 0755.
We look forward to seeing everyone again in person once restrictions are lifted. Keep safe!
