{"id":11130,"date":"2018-09-25T17:10:57","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T17:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/?p=11130"},"modified":"2022-10-07T11:24:29","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T16:24:29","slug":"electronic-wills-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wills-trusts\/electronic-wills-in-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Electronic Wills in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Idea Before its Time<\/h1>\n

Sometimes it seems as if you can do anything online \u2013 order groceries, close on your home sale, buy a gift and have it delivered in time for your mother\u2019s birthday. \u00a0\u00a0Electronic signatures are even more ubiquitous.\u00a0 \u00a0There is no question that online commerce provides convenience and uniformity in transactions.<\/p>\n

Yet your estate plan still requires the use of pen and paper.<\/p>\n

How is it possible that we have come so far and yet remain in the backwoods when it comes to doing a simple will?\u00a0\u00a0 For that, we must go back to the turn of the century when Congress first passed the E-Sign Act, short for Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, and set the stage for global commerce.\u00a0 Texas, like most other states, responded by passing a version of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, known as UETA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a result of these laws, a person could enter into a contract electronically.\u00a0 Amazon orders, docubank signatures on real estate contracts and credit card applications are all examples of electronic transactions.<\/p>\n

Both the E-Sign Act and UETA encompassed only agreements that were related to business, commercial or governmental affairs.\u00a0 \u00a0Both laws specifically excluded the creation and execution of wills, codicils, and testamentary trusts.<\/p>\n

Here is the reason for the exclusion.\u00a0 Wills, codicils and testamentary trusts are unilateral documents.\u00a0 They are not agreements between two people, and they are not transactions.\u00a0 They’re not related to business, commercial or governmental affairs.\u00a0 They are, quite simply, not the type of documents contemplated within the Acts.<\/p>\n

There is a reason for that:\u00a0 electronic wills come with complications.\u00a0 For example, could an unsent text,\u00a0 a Facebook post, or a file named \u201cMy Will\u201d on a personal computer be considered an enforceable will? \u00a0What about an email purporting to revoke a prior will?\u00a0 Digital assets may add many different dimensions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since they were not authorized by the E-Sign ACT or the uniform law adopted by most states, in order to be considered valid and enforceable an electronic will, codicil or testamentary trust would have to be authorized by a separate law passed in each state.<\/p>\n

Nevada is the only state, so far, that has passed a law authorizing an electronic will, but the technical requirements are so stringent that many experts doubt a compliant will can be created.\u00a0 The Uniform Law Commission Drafting Committee is working on a uniform law to address the formation, validity, and recognition of for electronic wills, end-of-life planning document and powers of attorney, with no result yet to report.<\/p>\n

There is a specific Texas statute that authorizes electronic advance directives, so these may be signed by the declarant, witness or notary using a digital or electronic signature:\u00a0 medical power of attorney, directive to physicians and out-of-hospital DNR orders. Learn more about our success in Wills and Trusts.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

As for the other estate planning documents, for now the following documents should be written on paper and signed in ink with all of the required formalities:\u00a0 will, codicil, testamentary trust and durable power of attorney.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Virginia Hammerle is an attorney whose practice includes estate planning, litigation and business law.\u00a0 For more articles, see her blog at hammerle.com or sign up for her newsletter at <\/em>legaltalktexas@hammerle.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Idea Before its Time Sometimes it seems as if you can do anything online \u2013 order groceries, close on your home sale, buy a gift and have it delivered in time for your mother\u2019s birthday. \u00a0\u00a0Electronic signatures are even more ubiquitous.\u00a0 \u00a0There is no question that online commerce provides convenience and uniformity in transactions. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[1055],"class_list":{"0":"post-11130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wills-trusts","8":"tag-general"},"yoast_head":"\nElectronic Wills in Texas - Hammerle Morris Law Firm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Electronic Wills in Texas are considered to be unilateral documents.\u00a0 They are not agreements between two people, and they are not transactions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wills-trusts\/electronic-wills-in-texas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Electronic Wills in Texas - 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