Preservation | Family Wealth Protection & Planning

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, many Missourians are finding it difficult to carry on a modicum of “business as usual.” One of the many difficulties is the requirement that certain legal documents, including deeds, deeds of trust (mortgages), wills and powers of attorney, must be validated through personal appearance before a notary public (and in some cases witnesses) to meet certain requirements or to be effective. Even though most real estate documents will remain enforceable even in the absence of effective notarization, individuals should endeavor to notarize such documents to avoid potential litigation. However, applicable shelter-in-place or stay-at-home orders have made it difficult, if not impossible, to have anything notarized in a safe, social-distancing-mindful way.

In light of these concerns, on April 6, 2020, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson issued Executive Order 20-08, which purports to suspend the requirement of personal appearance to have a document notarized. Instead, the order permits notarization of documents through a videoconference (FaceTime, Zoom, Skype and other such video chats), provided certain requirements are met.

Pursuant to authority granted to the Secretary of the Treasury by President Trump on March 13, 2020 in an emergency declaration, the Treasury and IRS have released a series of Notices postponing both the due date for filing Federal income tax returns, as well as making Federal income tax payments, from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020.

On March 27, 2020, the IRS published Notice 2020-20 postponing the deadline to file Forms 709, gift and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax returns, along with any associated gift and GST tax payments, from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020. (see the blog discussing this in more detail here).