Estate Planning in the Future (or at Least, as It Should Be)

Almost everything in modern life can be done digitally.

I can open a bank account on my phone.I can sign contracts with a click.I can move money across the world in seconds.I can even buy a house mostly online.

And yet…

When it comes to estate planning, we still gather around a table with pens, witnesses, and a notary stamp that looks like it hasn’t changed since 1953.

Why Is Estate Planning Still So Analog?

Estate planning (and real estate) remain two of the last holdouts of the paper-and-ink era. Wills and trusts generally require:

• Wet signatures

• In-person notarization

• Multiple witnesses (sometimes with very specific rules)

• Physical documents that must be safely stored forever

And if that storage plan fails? Good luck.

I’m on an estate-planning listserv, and every single week there are posts from lawyers asking things like:

• “Has anyone seen the original will of…?”

• “Client says their trust was signed in 2004 but no one can find it.”

• “Does a scanned copy count if the original burned in a fire?”

These aren’t rare edge cases. They’re routine.

Which raises an obvious question:

Why Does This Still Work Like This?

The short answer: fraud prevention, evidentiary certainty, and tradition.

The longer answer: the law evolved in a world where paper was the most reliable technology available—and it hasn’t fully caught up. 

But let’s imagine, just for fun (and maybe a little seriously), what estate planning could look like if we designed it today.

Estate Planning in the Future

1. Why Not a Digital Will?

If I can sign a seven-figure business deal electronically, why can’t I sign a will?

A secure, authenticated digital will:

• Time-stamped

• Identity-verified

• Stored in a government or court-approved registry

would almost certainly be more reliable than a paper document sitting in a fireproof box in a garage.

Some states are starting to experiment here. Most are not.

2. Why Not a Video Will?

People often say: “But we need to know what the person really wanted.”

So… why not let them explain it themselves, directly?

Imagine a short video recorded at the time of signing:

• “This is me.”

• “This is my will.”

• “Here’s why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

Courts already consider video evidence in every other context. Yet for estate planning, we pretend it doesn’t exist.

3. Codicils by TikTok? (Okay, Maybe Not… But Also, Maybe?)

I’m not actually recommending TikTok codicils—yet.

But the underlying idea is serious: people communicate naturally through video now. The law still insists on 18th-century formalities to express 21st-century intent.

If someone can clearly and verifiably state:

• Who they are

• What they want changed

• When they did it

Why should the format matter so much?

4. Where Do Documents Live in the Future?

Right now, estate plans fail not because they were badly written—but because they were lost.

The future likely looks like:

• Secure digital vaults

• Court-recognized registries

• Automatic access upon death

• No more scavenger hunts for “the original”

Frankly, this already exists technologically. The law just hasn’t blessed it yet.

5. And Then There’s the Really Weird Stuff

Let’s go full Black Mirror for a moment (a great show).

• What happens when our digital personas outlive us? Does living “forever” digitally negate the need for an estate plan?

• Who controls your AI voice trained on decades of emails and texts?

• Can I create an AI version of myself to serve as my medical representative if I’m unable to make my own decisions? 

• By the same reasoning, why not an AI power of attorney to make my financial decisions when I’m unable? 

• Can an AI “you” consent to post-death decisions? Can an IA “you” resolve ambiguities and settle disputes among heirs in your estate plan? 

• Can a trust own your digital consciousness? 

• Can you make a trust to care for your digital consciousness? (somebody has to pay the inevitable digital subscription). After all, we already have pet trusts.

• Can heirs inherit your online presence—or shut it down?

These questions sound really weird and even a bit ridiculous - but not really. 

Fifty years ago, no one worried about digital assets. Now they’re a core part of estate planning. The next wave will make today’s questions look quaint.

So Where Does That Leave Us Today?

For now, we still:

• Sign with pen and paper

• Use notaries and witnesses

• Store originals carefully

• Hope nothing gets lost

It’s old-fashioned. It’s imperfect. And it’s still the law.

But if you ever wonder why estate planning feels so out of sync with the rest of modern life—it’s because it is.