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With COVID-19 impacting more and more Americans – 44,183 people have contracted the disease in the U.S. and 544 have died at last count – individuals across the country are scrambling to set up wills and end-of-life directives. That includes 32-year-old Morgan Hopkins, who after seeing how much damage the coronavirus has caused across the globe, decided that now is a good time to write down who would get her possessions in case the worst happened. "I started seeing stories of young people who are in otherwise perfectly good health in the hospital or in critical condition with the coronavirus," she says. "I'm willing to think about the worst-case scenario, and I wanted to be prepared — no one is immune." Last Thursday, as people began social distancing in earnest, Hopkins created an account with Cake, a company that lets people create wills and other end-of-life plans entirely online. From her home, she outlined who would get her things, including jewelry, assets from two retirement accounts and loads of Beyoncé paraphernalia. "I'm obsessed with her," says Perkins. She also gave directives on the kind of funeral she'd want, how she should be cared for if she becomes mentally incapacitated and even who should manage her social media accounts if she passes away. "I was surprised by the things it asked me that I hadn't thought of," she says. Over the last two weeks, online will companies have seen an explosion in users. As of Monday, Boston-based Gentreo has seen a 143% week-over-week increase in people filling out wills, according to the company, while San Diego's Trust & Will has seen a 50% uptick in users. "We've had a massive increase over the last two weeks," says Cody Barbo, Trust & Wills founder and CEO. "It's parents with minor children or people over 50 who are concerned about their own health if they contract the disease."

The rise in online wills

Court confusion?

However, as online wills grow in popularity, a chorus of lawyers increasingly caution against using them. A quick Google search will bring up articles on the dangers of do-it-yourself wills or stories of online wills that were thrown out in court. Leslie Tayne, founder of New York-based Tayne Law Group, says that "if the online will meets all of the legal requirements of your state, the will can be deemed valid. However, since the vast majority of DIY wills are created and executed without any oversight from an attorney, a larger number of wills (may not be) executed in compliance with the proper will formalities, and that could end up making the will invalid." Sarah Wentz, a lawyer with Fox Rothschild in Philadelphia, had a client whose parent filled out an online will but ended up writing down contradictory information as to who got what and, after that person passed away, the will was contested in court. "They left the same thing to multiple people," she says. "If there was a lawyer, they would understand the nuances of how things need to be written, and the client can make sure that what they really want is being conveyed in the documents."

Wills (may not be) executed in compliance with the proper will formalities, and that could end up making the will invalid. Leslie Tayne founder of New York-based Tayne Law Group

Despite this situation, Wentz isn't against online wills. They are legal — all you need is a notary and two witnesses (this can vary state by state) to sign a will, and the last step in creating an online will is printing out the document and getting it notarized — and they do ask you many of the same questions that a lawyer would. She does think they're better for simpler wills, because it's easier to make mistakes with more complicated estates. "Some of the biggest litigation cases I've ever had have to do with discrepancies in documents and no real ability to understand what that person was doing," she says. Barbo says anyone, not matter how complicated the estate, can use them, while Mary Kate D'Sousa, a veteran estate lawyer and co-founder of Gentreo, says that while they can be used for complex estates, she agrees with Wentz in that those with around $3 million in assets or below might find it more useful than those with multimillion-dollar estates. "You can still use these if you had millions of dollars," says D'Sousa. "But at that point, you may want to spend the $10,000 on a lawyer and do other things to protect your money." Those who are thinking about using an online will should make sure the site is compliant with state-specific regulations. While wills are generally created in the same way across the country, there are some nuances in each locale that, if ignored, could cause problems later on, says Wentz. Most online sites do take various regulations into account, and they automatically update their software when regulations change, but don't take it for granted.

Virtual signing