Estate Planning Via Text or Video. What Counts as a Will?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Here's your money briefing for Friday, December 20th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. About half of Americans have made out a will.
What happens if someone dies without a will under state intestacy rules?
But for some, their beneficiaries might not be entitled to receive their assets because their instructions aren't in writing.
Just like pretty much everything in life has gone digital, if you're tied to your phone, people assume that they can do a selfie video or they can write out a text and that would automatically count as a will. But state law remains rooted to ink on paper.
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Ashleya Eblen.
After the break. Listen at Schwab.com slash Washington Wise.
Some family members are finding out that wills aren't legally binding if they're recorded on video or audio. Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Ashleya Ebling joins me. Ashleya, what happens if someone dies and they don't have a will?
Actually, only about half of Americans have wills. And the big mistake they're making is maybe they don't understand that state law in that case determines who gets your assets. And the laws are changing.
Why are people using videos and texts instead of traditional wills?
It varies from states. It could be 100% to your spouse. It could be 50% to your spouse, 50% to your children. If there's no spouse or children, it generally goes up the line to parents or horizontally to siblings. But it's really out of your control. So if you want it to be in your control, you need a will.
For years, last wills and testaments were written on paper. Why have some people turned to video or audio to spell out how they want their assets passed down?
Just like pretty much everything in life has gone digital. If you're tied to your phone, people assume that they can do a selfie video or they can write out a text and that would automatically count as a will. But estate law remains rooted to ink on paper.
You wrote about a man in Montana who recorded his will on video and then he died. What happened there?
So in that case, he made his intentions clear looking directly in the camera with a selfie video saying he wanted all his assets to go to his brother. Tragically, after a motorcycle accident just a few days later, he was struck by a car and killed when a first responder was allegedly speeding to the accident site. The case went up to the Montana Supreme Court, and they said a video is not a document or writing under their wills law.
Did a Montana selfie-video will hold up in court and why not?
So that meant that instead of everything going to the brother, the deceased's daughter, who wasn't even mentioned in the video, she is the one under intestacy laws who would stand to inherit.
Why did the court say what it did?
So the court has to interpret the law and the law in Montana talks about writings intended as a will. And they basically said a video is not a writing in that case. It doesn't count.
Does it have to be neatly typed and notarized for it to be acceptable?
The gold standard is you sign a paper copy in a lawyer's office and their witnesses and a notary. The notary is really important, you know, as an extra safeguard for it to hold up in court. Not necessarily legally required, but still a good idea. And in some cases it is legally required. But again, state by state. But the point is it actually doesn't have to be typed up. It can be written out on a napkin, stuffed in a couch. In one case, there was this New Jersey appellate court honored an amendment to a will that was actually written in blood, bizarrely. And that counted? That counted.
Why haven't states accepted wills in video or audio form?
Among the old-fashioned bar associations, the estate lawyers who are rooted to tradition, there's a big debate because some really feel like there should be the modernization of these laws and it should be moving forward into technology, but others want to keep it rooted in the past. So they're afraid of fraud. Someone could theoretically be in the room off-camera influencing the person who's making the will.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:29
2
What happens if someone dies without a will under state intestacy rules?
0:29–2:00
3
Why are people using videos and texts instead of traditional wills?
2:00–3:16
4
Did a Montana selfie-video will hold up in court and why not?
3:16–5:31
5
What legal formalities make a will valid—notary, witnesses, or ink signature?
5:31–8:24
6
Are states willing to accept audio or video recordings as legally binding wills?
8:24–8:53
Speakers
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