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Blockchain Wills, Bridget J. Crawford
Blockchain Wills, Bridget J. Crawford
Indiana Law Journal
Blockchain technology has the potential to radically alter the way that people have
executed wills for centuries. This Article makes two principal claims—one
descriptive and the other normative. Descriptively, this Article suggests that
traditional wills formalities have been relaxed to the point that they no longer serve
the cautionary, protective, evidentiary, and channeling functions that scholars have
used to justify strict compliance with wills formalities. Widespread use of digital
technology in everyday communications has led to several notable cases in which
individuals have attempted to execute wills electronically. These wills have had a
mixed reception. Four states currently recognize electronic …