The Value Of Digitizing Your Trust, Wills, And Estate Plans

The Value Of Digitizing Your Trust, Wills, And Estate Plans

Seth Gordon
October 11, 2023

An estate plan is a set of instructions that dictate what will happen to your assets and your dependents after you die. It can be as simple as a will or a more complex arrangement that includes trusts, Powers of Attorney, and health care directives.

An estate plan aims to ensure that your wishes are carried out after you die and to minimize the amount of taxes and legal fees your family will have to pay. A well-crafted estate plan will consider your unique circumstances and provide for the distribution of your assets in the most efficient and hassle-free way possible.

Estate planning is important for everyone, regardless of your money or assets. It allows you to decide how your property and assets will be distributed after your death and can help minimize the stress and burden on your loved ones during a difficult time.

Part of estate planning in this day and age is digitizing your plans. Today, let's take a closer look at estate planning and how and why you should digitize them. Here's what you need to know:

Why You Should Digitize Your Trust, Wills, and So On

Lawyers Can Retire

As the world progresses, keeping up with the latest technology is essential. This is especially true when it comes to our legal documents. Wills, trusts, and other important papers should be digitized to access and update as needed easily.

Lawyers can help with this process by providing their clients with digital copies of their documents. This way, if anything happens to the original copies, they can still be retrieved from the lawyer's office.

Better Accessibility

If you've ever lost your car keys or had your wallet stolen, you know how frustrating it can be to track down all your essential documents. It's even more difficult if you don't have a digital backup.

The same is true for your estate planning documents. If something happens to your hard copies, it can be difficult for your loved ones to track down everything they need. Digitizing your estate planning documents can help solve this problem. You can store all your documents in one place, and they'll be much easier to access if something happens to your hard copies.

Easier to Update

It's no secret that more and more people are choosing to go digital with their finances. From online banking to investing in cryptocurrency, there are many advantages to digitizing your finances.

One often overlooked benefit is the ease of updating your trust, will, and other important documents. You need to track down the original copy with physical documents, make any changes, and then have it notarized. You can simply make the changes with digital documents and save the file.

This is especially beneficial if you have a complex trust or will with many beneficiaries. Instead of having to track down each beneficiary to make sure they receive the updated copy, you can simply send them a link to the updated document.

Build Trust with Your Lawyer

You should digitize your trust, wills, and other legal documents for many reasons. For one, it builds trust with your lawyer. When you have a physical copy of a document, you can easily show it to your lawyer and have them read it. This builds trust between you and your lawyer, as they can easily see that you are taking care of your legal documents.

When you meet with your lawyer to discuss your estate planning, they will likely want to see a copy of your trust, will, and other documents. If you digitize these documents, it will be much easier for your lawyer to review them and understand your wishes. This will build trust between you and your lawyer and help ensure that your estate is handled according to your wishes.

Improved Organization

As the world progresses, more and more of our lives are becoming digital. We store our photos and music online, we communicate with our friends and family through social media, and we can even do our shopping without ever stepping foot in a store. Given this trend, it only makes sense that we would also want to digitize our trust, will, and other important documents.

There are several benefits to digitizing these documents. It can help you to keep them organized. With physical documents, it can be easy to misplace them or to have them become disorganized. However, it is much easier to keep track of everything when everything is stored electronically.

Protection from Destruction

Many of us have essential documents like trust documents and wills that we need to keep safe. But what happens if those documents are destroyed in a fire or flood? Or what if they're stolen?

Digitizing your trust documents and wills can help protect them from destruction or theft. You can store them on a secure server or in the cloud and access them from anywhere in the world. There are other benefits to digitizing your trust documents and wills as well. You can easily share them with your family and friends and make changes to them quickly and easily.

How to Digitize Your Estate Planning Documents

As you probably know, "digitizing" means converting something from a physical format to a digital one. In the case of estate planning documents, this means scanning or taking a digital photo of important papers like your will, trusts, Powers of Attorney, and beneficiary designations, and then storing them securely online or on a USB drive.

Estate planning software can be a great tool for helping you to manage your estate. It can help you to keep track of your assets and liabilities, as well as help you to plan for the future. There are many different estate planning software programs available, so it is important to find one that is right for you.

One of the first things to consider when choosing estate planning software is what type of features you need. There are many different estate planning software programs on the market, each offering different features. Some programs are more comprehensive than others, so choosing the one that best meets your needs is essential.

The Bottom Line

Digitizing your estate planning documents is crucial in protecting your assets and ensuring that your loved ones are cared for during your death. By storing your documents in a secure, online location, you can rest assured that they will be accessible to your loved ones when they need them most. 

If you are looking for the best estate planning software, you're in the right place. Estateably can help your firm to work seamlessly even with a fully remote team. We can save you time on your estate files and more. We help automate estate and probate administration forms, accounting reporting, and more. Contact us today to learn more and get started!

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