I hope all of my readers are doing well after their first weekend on lockdown!

I thought I would bring you up to date on our efforts at the Pasadena Law Group to continue to provide for our clients, even if we should not/are not allowed to meet face to face. So, we’ve investigated technology that allows us to continue to communicate with each other, and to enable you to keep your estate plan current.

First, we now have the technology to do online video conferences, using Zoom. All you need is a computer and an internet connection. You will be able to see me, and I can share my computer screen with you. If you have a video camera connected to your computer, all the better; that way I’ll be able to see you! With Zoom, we can pretty much do anything we could do if we were sitting in my conference room. Zoom is easy to use and fairly intuitive. Although you may be asked to create your own account, it will be easy and free.

The one thing I can’t do with Zoom is notarize your documents — California does not allow remote notarizations. What we can do, however, is have you sign your documents using DocuSign. The documents will be legally valid, just as if you had signed them in front of me. The only thing is that you won’t be able to use them for real property transactions until the documents have been acknowledged by a notary public.

My vision of how to handle this is to have an online meeting, walk you through the documents, and have you sign them through DocuSign. When we can see each other face-to-face again, I’ll set up a meeting with you to complete the notary acknowledgments and sign new wills. In the meantime, you will have documents that are contractually valid and evidence of your intent if something happens to you before we can meet face-to-face.

So, the moral of the story is that we are here for you! Please don’t hesitate to call if you have questions or concerns. If you know someone who is fretting about getting his or her legal house in order, I’d be happy to talk to him or her, too.

Take care and stay safe.

Very truly yours,

Jan Copley

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