In 2021 and 2022, I wrote about Surrogate’s Court decisions that addressed the admission of remotely witnessed wills to probate in New York State. Since then, Surrogate’s Courts have issued at least two more decisions addressing the validity of remotely witnessed wills. I now write to provide an update about the validity of remotely witnessed wills, having been involved in two cases that addressed the issue in 2023.
Between April 7, 2020 and June 25, 2021, New York Executive Order 202.14 (the “Executive Order”) permitted “the remote execution of wills” in this State (Matter of Holmgren, 74 Misc3d 917, 918 [Sur Ct, Queens County 2022]). The Executive Order set forth formalities that must be observed in order to justify the admission of a remotely executed will to probate in New York (id.). Among those formalities was the requirement that “the testator has to be either personally known to the attesting witnesses or must present valid photo identification to the witnesses during the video conference” (id. at 919).
Continue Reading The Admission of Remotely Witnessed Wills to Probate in New York