ST. LOUIS \u2013 Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe signed several bills into law last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One you may not have heard a lot about is House Bill 754. The bill establishes the Missouri Electronic Wills and Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you should be very proud, not only that you\u2019re on the cutting edge, I think of this and using technology, but there are so many people that will benefit from it,\u201d said Craig Parker, Assistant General Counsel at Trust & Will<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Parker says the bill would allow Missourians to securely create, sign and store important documents entirely online, making estate planning convenient.<\/p>\n \u201cSeventy percent of adults have nothing. They have not even a basic will. And so I think we need to change that,\u201d Parker said. \u201cAnd if you look into groups that live in more rural areas, it\u2019s even worse. And if you look at groups who are minority groups and others, very few of them have any kind of estate planning documents.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Starting Aug. 28, Missouri will become the fifth state to offer complete digital estate planning and the 15th to recognize electronic wills.<\/p>\n Mike DiSalvo, founder of Purpose Path Capital, agrees the digital access will help remove geographic barriers but recommends working with a professional to develop your plan.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of times we have areas that might be blind spots that we don\u2019t even realize we have,\u201d DiSalvo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n