Member Article

LegalZoom UK launches the world’s first digital Will

Legal tech company, LegalZoom UK, have created Legacy, an app slated to “revolutionise the way we think about and plan for our loved ones after our death”. Described as the world’s first ‘digital Will’, Legacy enables users to capture, curate and pass on limitless memories to each of the important people in their lives. Stories and thoughts, special photos and shared moments and nursery drawings from children - Legacy enables all these to be passed on to loved ones, and, in time, onwards through generations. It also enables users to easily make their Will on their phone and update it at any time.

LegalZoom UK CEO, Craig Holt, described the genesis of the product: “I read an incredibly moving story of a woman who talked with great emotion about how her most treasured possession was a single short answerphone recording from her dead mother. It occurred to me how we’re failing to help people leave behind the things that really matter, that allows some part of them to live on for those left behind. In this digital era we all have thousands of photos and videos but they’re unsorted and without any sense of what they meant to the person taking them at the time and often they can end up inaccessible due to passwords”.

“This app is for everyone with anyone they love in their life. To protect and take care of them but also to leave behind a story for them. It’s a chance to tell those you love anything you would want them to know if you weren’t around and also to journal and document your life together, leaving a priceless and ever-lasting Legacy.”

“Another feature actually took inspiration from the movie ‘P.s. I Love You’, which is that we also allow people to record messages to be released at particular times or events in the future: a series of messages after your death designed to ease the grief of those left behind - perhaps an anniversary message to a wife or a wedding speech for a daughter…”.

The digital will in Legacy has been created by expert lawyers to provide complete legal peace of mind alongside the other innovative features of the App. As well as being able to be updated anytime from a visual interface, and signed directly on your phone, the Will has smart features including auto-updating, for example, when a child turns 18 and no longer requires a Guardian. A digital assets section of the Will allows users to pass on passwords for social media and storage accounts, over-coming issues such as the recent case where Apple refused a father’s request to unlock an iPhone belonging to a dead son.

Work has already begun on Legacy v2 with plans for a Virtual Reality element allowing users to view their passed-on memories in a fully immersive environment. Legacy is the first product from LegalZoom in the UK with promises of more soon to follow for both individuals and consumers.

Holt said, “Legal services touch some of the happiest and saddest moments in our life: moving home, getting divorced, death and new life, starting a first business… I’m not interested in just taking legal services online - I want to completely re-invent them to truly meet the needs of people at these life events. Legacy is the first significant re-invention of a Will since their inception thousands of years ago; creating this next-generation of legal products and services - combining the best technology and legal expertise - is at the heart of our approach.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Abbie Cryer .