Publications | 18 MaY 2020

 

Update your Wills and Powers of Attorney now – New Victorian regulations allow electronic signatures and witnessing of documents by audio-visual link

On 12 May 2020, the Victorian Government enacted the COVID–19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) (Electronic Signing and Witnessing) Regulations 2020 (“Regulations”) to facilitate the execution of certain documents electronically, and to allow the witnessing of the signing of documents to occur by audio-visual link, such as deeds, mortgages, statutory declarations, powers of attorney and wills. The Regulations, which are temporary[1]:

1. modify the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000 (“Act”) to permit deeds and mortgages to be executed electronically;
2. permit splitting executions of transactions under the Act, by allowing signatures to appear on separate copies of the same document;
3. make valid the use of an audio-visual link to enable:
   • witnessing transactions under the Act[2];
   • making statutory declarations, including the witnessing of and assisting with the making of a statutory declaration under the Oaths and Affirmations Act 2018 (Vic);
   • executing and witnessing the execution of powers of attorney under the Powers of Attorney Act 2014 (Vic); and
   • executing and witnessing a will the Wills Act 1997 (Vic).

To assist you, we’ve updated our price guide by discounting the prices for wills and powers of attorney:

	Price[3]
Single Will (one person)	$350.00
Mirror Will (two persons appointing each other)	$600.00
Power of Attorney (single)	$150.00
Powers of Attorney (General/Financial & Medical)	$250.00
Single Will & Powers of Attorney (General/Financial & Medical)	$500.00
Mirror Will & Powers of Attorney (General/Financial & Medical)	$900.00

Take advantage of these offers today and contact Madison Branson Lawyers on 1300 653 189 or info@madisonbranson.com. [1] The Regulations will expire on 24 October 2020 [2] For example, a witness can now observe a person sign a document or confirm a person’s identity over audio-visual link [3] All prices are inclusive of GST