UPDATE: ONTARIO GOVERNMENT PASSESREGULATION ALLOWING FOR VIRTUALWITNESSING OF WILLS AND POWERS OF

On April 7th 2020, the Ontario government enacted a regulation under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act allowing Wills and Powers of Attorney to be witnessed virtually for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency.

The regulation requires that at least one of the witnesses be a lawyer or paralegal and “audio-visual communication technology” is defined to mean “any electronic method of communication in which participants are able to see, hear and communicate with each other in real time.”

The regulation will be extremely helpful as the requirement of having two witnesses “physically” present at the singing of Wills or Powers of Attorney was proving to be challenging given the requirement of social distancing, and in many cases not feasible-- such as in the case of at-risk clients.

At Taylor Estates Law, we are using various audio-visual technologies (e.g., Skype, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, etc.), and we are able to provide both required witnesses. We are also making ourselves available on evenings and weekends to adapt to peoples’ new routines and schedules.

Every year, thousands of Canadians die without Wills and become incapacitated without Powers of Attorney, and in many cases this can have devastating consequences for families and businesses.

For more information, please contact me.

Paul Taylor - Taylor Estates Law 150 King Street West, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5H 1J9 T.416.995.4024

paul@taylorestateslaw.com

www.taylorestateslaw.com