Dennis Kennedy

The Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog has a post discussing a recent Tennessee case holding that a computer-generated signature was vaild on a will. The post quotes from Chad Ross's case comment in the University of Memphis Law Review.

The money quote comes from Chad's article:

With its holding in Taylor, the Tennessee Court of Appeals becomes the first in the nation to rule on the validity of a testator's computer-generated signature. . . . In so doing, the court has issued a well-founded opinion that proves that the statute of wills can accommodate the advances of technology without sacrificing the goals that underlie the statute.

People often ask me why we can't use electronic signatures for transactions these days. I always say, "You can." See this article Chip Fendell and I wrote on electronic signatures a few years ago here.

I applaud the Tennessee opinion for its very reasonable approach to dealing with the intersection of traditional legal principles and technology.

I also hope that it helps get the word out on the validity of electronic signatures. I still can't get over the number of companies that send me forms they want me to sign and fax back to them. Think about the absurdity of that for a minute.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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