 Peace be with you all. I wanted to record a short video to answer a lot of the questions I've been getting from folks who are reaching out and saying they'd like to set up a will because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the first thing that is really important for each and every one of us to realize is that if someone gets sick from this virus and is hospitalized, it's highly likely that their loved ones are not going to be able to visit them in the hospital. And that's a scary realization, one that's really heavy. And what that means is that we need to have some serious, difficult conversations with our spouse and with our loved ones right now, while most of us hopefully are healthy and well. And those include issues like guardianship for children, who's going to make decisions for me or on my behalf in the event of incapacity for financial decisions and healthcare decisions and what happens to my wealth after I'm gone. So all of these really difficult questions need to be discussed and decided and then memorialized into legally enforceable instruments today while we have the opportunity to do so. Because it can also prevent a lot of future grief and increasing sort of compiling difficulty on top of an already difficult condition. So most people that are reaching out are saying I want to create a will. I actually think there are three documents that everybody needs to have at this time. In our office, we call that our essentials packet. That's a power of attorney, a healthcare directive and a last will. And so and in some cases or in many cases, also potentially a trust or a living trust or a family trust. So I'll spend a few minutes explaining each one of those so that we understand what they are, how we can create them and how we can execute them, which is now a new challenge that we're facing. So the first two documents, the power of attorney and the healthcare directive deal with incapacity, which means if I'm injured or or I'm ill and unable to make decisions, two physicians determine generally that I'm incapacitated, I would like to delegate or designate such and such individual and we can have a list of people to make these decisions on my behalf. The power of attorney deals with financial decisions. The healthcare power of attorney or the healthcare agent or the healthcare proxy that has different names in different states is an individual who is going to make healthcare decisions on my behalf. And in some states, the healthcare proxy or the healthcare directive also has a component that allows you to provide guidelines for end of life care preferences and decisions either within that same document or in another document known as a living will. So each of these are important. Now they're particularly important for folks that may not be married or may not have family nearby or may not have family in the country or who want to select individuals who are outside of their immediate family. So if you fall into any of those categories, it's really critical that you create these documents in order to designate who's going to have the authority to make decisions and what guidelines do I want to provide them in the event that I am incapacitated with respect to end of life care decisions. These are, you know, difficult, heavy decisions. But as I said before, thinking about them, planning them out and getting them in writing tends to generally save a lot more difficulty and grief that our family would potentially be facing than if we didn't have these items in place. So that's the first part. Now, how do you create these documents? Well, of course, you can seek out the assistance of counsel. We're happy to assist. These are typically, I would say, not things that you should try self-help for. But in these difficult times, there are lots of forms online that you can seek out. Different states have various statutory forms. At a minimum, try if you're able to create those forms and fill out individuals who are going to have these responsibilities. And again, if you need assistance from an attorney, then go ahead and seek out the assistance of counsel to create these documents. Now, there's a new problem, which is how do we execute these documents? State planning documents typically require one or two witnesses and or a notarization. And so in a time where we need to practice social distancing and in a lot of states, there are mandatory shelter-in-place requirements now, this is becoming increasingly difficult. And unfortunately, most of these documents are not able to be electronically witnessed and or notarized. So a lot of states don't have these procedures in place just yet. Hopefully the states and the legislatures will change that in the coming days. But right now in our office, we're relying heavily on mobile notaries. So that's one option is that folks can come to your house and notarize documents. But for somebody who might already have the virus or thinks they have the virus or are highly susceptible to getting the virus, that might not be an option. And in that case, my professional advice is the advice of various practitioners around the country is at least create these documents and sign the documents and write in there. You can write underneath there that you were not able to get them properly executed given the circumstances that we're in. And the hope is that they would be honored and that they would be enforceable. And at the earliest opportunity, make sure to get them properly executed so that there is no question or no ambiguity with respect to their enforceability. So that's with respect to incapacity. Now what happens after a person passes away, that is governed either by a will or a trust. And so a will generally accomplishes three goals. First and foremost for any of us who are parents, which is the biggest concern, just a human concern is what's going to happen to my children if I'm no longer around. Who's going to be their guardian? You get to decide that in the will. And so that's a really critical conversation. One of the questions I'm getting a lot of is can I name guardians overseas? Guardians as well as agents on the other documents. And the practical answer to that is that's not really helpful. And so you need to pick at least temporarily individuals who are local who will be able to become guardians. And then perhaps as things ease up, if you have family members overseas and that's the goal, then that's identified in the documents as well that long term I want such and such person overseas to become the permanent guardian of my minor children. Point two is what happens to my wealth and who's going to be in charge of managing and distributing that. Now understand that a will has limitations. It only governs assets that do not have a right of survivorship, meaning for most people that's their house. Two spouses are married, they have a home with a right of survivorship. They have joint bank accounts and they might have other assets that are jointly owned. Those assets all are automatically going to go to the surviving spouse or the surviving joint tenant who has a right of survivorship. So that's really important, especially for Muslim clients who are contacting and who have questions and who are seeking to create a religiously compliant wills that apply Islamic inheritance law. You have to understand that the right of survivorship and the beneficiary designation on a retirement account or a life insurance policy is going to trump what you've written in your will. So understand that that's critical. That means that the will is typically only going to distribute assets in the event something happens, God forbid, to both spouses, so you have to understand the limitations of a will. The second limitation of a will is that it has to go through the probate process, which is the court supervised process for transferring assets after somebody dies. Generally in most states it's expensive, inefficient and unnecessary. So most people who are looking, who consult an estate planning attorney who reach out to me, their goal is to avoid probate. And so if we can, we want to avoid probate and we can do that generally through the creation of a trust. So the will is not the best solution but in this day and age, in this time of crisis, it's something that everybody should have because at a minimum it governs what happens to your wealth and what happens to your children after you pass away or after both spouses pass away to be more precise if somebody is married. So those three documents, like I said, everybody should have in our office, that's called the essentials packet, a power of attorney, a healthcare power of attorney and a last will and testament. Now for Muslim clients around the country, we do have an option for a totally free will. It's a basic will. It's a smart form that you put in your information. It creates a form. You print it out, you sign it, you get two witnesses and there's an option of a notary. That's for basic cases. Of course if you have complex cases, a bunch of assets, then naturally you should seek out the assistance of counsel to draft a more custom will for you and for your situation. Now the best way to do estate planning is to utilize a trust. And just briefly, a trust is, you could think of it like a bucket. We create this bucket while you're alive. We fund your assets into the bucket, meaning we transfer your home if you own a home into the trust. The trust becomes the owner of the house. Same goes for bank accounts, same goes for investment accounts and the trust can be the beneficiary on your retirement accounts and any life insurance policies. So it's a very comprehensive planning tool and because the trust never dies, the assets never have to go through probate once you pass away. The next person in line simply steps into your shoes and can manage and distribute the assets consistent with your wishes and your intent for the benefit of your beneficiaries in accordance with your religious preferences. So it's the optimal solution. The only downside is it's obviously more expensive and it's more time consuming. If you're able to turn around will packages right now in one to two days, trust packages are one to two weeks. So what I'm telling everybody that's reaching out is do your will today and do your trust tomorrow. Don't wait to finish and get the perfect solution in this time of crisis, but at least get the basics in place. There should be no excuse for anyone not to create a will, not to have a healthcare directive during this pandemic. So I hope that's helpful to answer some of your questions. If you have further questions, please feel free to reach out, provide, you know, share a comment. I'll try to, if it's a general question, I'll try to respond there as well. And I hope and pray that everyone is safe and that God protects all of us and our families in this difficult time. And if we can be there to assist you, we would be more than happy to do so. Thank you and God bless you.