By Simon Ellis, CEO Hadageto UK Ltd

I am like lots of people who keep putting off what seem to be non-essential tasks.

Then something happens, and you realise you really need to get that task done super quick.

Covid-19 is a dangerous and random virus, its spread can’t be seen until its too late. It affects different people in less or more aggressive ways, and in some cases sadly leads to death.

This situation makes me think about life and loved ones even more than ever. And especially what would happen if I was to pick up the virus and become a fatality.

Speaking from experience, I last updated my Will about 20 years ago and lots of things have since changed. As time goes on, my priorities are totally different now. Having recently been involved with the Probate for my mother’s estate, I now realise that having no Will or an out of date one would add endless delays to settlement, and no doubt add further distress to my relatives.

On the legal side of things, all estates must go through the probate process with or without a Will. Having a Will, however, speeds up the probate process and informs the court how you’d like your estate divided. Probate courts serve the purpose of “administering your estate”, and when you die without a Will (known as dying “intestate”), the court will decide how to divide your estate without your input, which can also cause long, unnecessary delays and distress.

Apart from the hassle to your family and potential stress to your partner (especially if you are not married), not having a valid Will means someone else decides who gets what, and can leave the door open to unnecessary conflict.

With all this in mind, we should make an appointment to see the solicitor. But alas, we cannot! At the time of writing Lockdown is in play, and the solicitor is working from home, and this is not really an essential journey.

So I call the solicitor instead and they send me a comprehensive questionnaire to complete, asking all sorts of personal questions about finances and assets. I’m told to “just fill it in and email it back”.

Email? No way. Not a document with all my sensitive financial info in it. Too risky – Just imagine for a moment how many places the file will end up in, and who might snoop its contents.

Getting organised with our filing and being able to share documents safely and securely is an essential part of managing our daily lives. Hadageto is the solution and the Lockdown provides the time and opportunity to actually put things in order.

Providing a secure document management and sharing platform has been a passion of mine for a decade. Hadageto is a cost-effective easy to use platform that solves the problem, rooted firmly in Document Management best practice. With this platform you can load your completed document; tag it so you can easily find it, and invite your solicitor to access the relevant material through the secure, and simple to create, share facility.

Your solicitor can review the contents direct from the browser, without needing to download, and create your Will. Once complete, they can add your will directly to your Hadageto account, so again no risks of it being read by others.

Then you can get the Will signed, scan a copy and upload it to Hadageto with relevant tags to enable easy retrieval. What’s more, you can add a location description showing where the original is (fourth drawer in my desk under the insurance documents), so your trustees will be able to find your original will quickly. Furthermore, the authenticity can be validated by the audit trail supporting the scanned copy held in Hadageto as it is a read-only document and cannot be altered. Essential for securing vital facts. (For more information on this, please see our blog: Duplication vs Replication)

I built Hadageto as the ideal document sharing and organisation solution for individuals and small business users.

To celebrate our launch and as a contribution to life in Lockdown we are offering you the opportunity of a free three-month trial to help get yourself organised. Stay safe.

Visit hadageto.com and enter ‘staysafe’ in the coupon code box during checkout.

Simon Ellis,
CEO Hadageto UK

Share documents with confidence

PS see how I managed my Will with Hadageto:

1. Completed the Will questionnaire (details of finances, assets, next of kin and so on)
2. Uploaded the resulting document to my Hadageto account, tagging it with #Will and #Questionnaire so I know what it’s about and can find it again.
3. Shared the completed questionnaire with my solicitor by sending them a one-use-only link to it, and an upload link so they can upload the Will document.
4. My Solicitor created a Will from the given information and used the upload link to upload it directly to my Hadageto account. The upload link automatically tagged it with #Will, #Legal and #ToDo.
5. I then shared this version with my partner, who has her own Hadageto account, by tagging it with her “#to” tag. She can review it and make sure I haven’t missed anything.
6. Printed and signed the document in front of a witness (neighbour remaining 2 meters apart)
7. Scanned and uploaded the signed copy, tagging it with a few tags to make sure I can find it again (#Will, #Legal, #Important). I also set the location of the original when I added it (as above, “the fourth drawer down”).
8. Sent my Trustees a special link that allows them access to my document using a password. (I’ll be able to track if they open the document early and they will be aware of consequences!) In reality they will be able to access it quickly from any location once I’m gone without me needing to do anything.
9. Created an “important documents” binder, with all documents that have been tagged “#important” in it. I also favourited this binder so it appears at the top of my binder list and I can find it easily.
10. Ticked “Will” off my to-do list. I know the document will never get lost, or be accidentally deleted. No-one can change it, or come up an old Will claiming it to be valid. Everyone’s got access who needs it, and if I need to update it later, I can.
11. Now I can add other important life documents and create a my virtual filing system securely and safely sharing specific documents as needed.