The impacts of COVID-19 have been unprecedented, and the New South Wales government has had to introduce unexpected measures for the safety of the community.
As we all know, prior to COVID, witnessing a document required a witness to physically come in and observe the signature being made.
If you were creating a will, it requires you to be there in person to sign the paper. However, this was clearly an issue in 2020 with social distancing and capacity requirements where many businesses started to work from home.
In April, the NSW government introduced the Electronic Transactions Amendment (COVID-19 Witnessing of Documents) Regulation 2020 (NSW) (Regulations) and created a solution. This temporary legislation allows clients to create the will over video conferencing with their lawyer over Zoom, Skype and even FaceTime.
The signature must be viewed in real time over the video call, and the lawyer must confirm the identity of the client. This legislation also extends to affidavits and swearing of oaths.
These provisions are set to expire at the end of 2021, however there are currently debates around whether these should be made permanent due to the convivence.