Publication Date
2020
Abstract
This brief essay suggests that suddenly popular online meeting platforms like Zoom can be used to execute wills while people are subject to shelterin-place orders following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although will execution ceremonies using Zoom do not strictly comply with statutory formalities, Zoom-based ceremonies satisfy the two primary curative doctrines-the substantial compliance doctrine and the UPC's harmless error rule-for admission to probate. Informed by statutes that recognize e-wills, the essay concludes that a Zoom-based execution ceremony produces a Zoom will without stretching statutory formalities beyond recognition during a period of extreme isolation.
Recommended Citation
Alberto B. Lopez, Zoom Wills, 98 Wash. Univ. L. Rev. Online 56 (2020).