Wills in the Cloud – The Pros, Cons, and Inevitability of Electronic Wills

Vanessa Kanaga currently serves as InterActive Legal’s Special Advisor on Estate Planning and Legal Strategy.  She is the former CEO of InterActive Legal.  Vanessa received her J.D. from Cornell Law School and holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Wichita State University, as well as an Advanced Professional Certificate from New York University School of Law. She is licensed in New York, Kansas, and Arizona, and currently lives in Arizona.

Prior to joining InterActive Legal in 2013, Vanessa practiced in New York, at Milbank LLP and Moses & Singer LLP, and in Kansas, at Hinkle Law Firm, LLC. She has experience in a range of estate planning matters, including high net worth tax planning and asset protection planning.

In 2024, Vanessa returned to the practice of law.  She is an Associate Attorney at Greengard Law Firm, PLC in Phoenix, Arizona.

Professor Beyer is nationally recognized expert in estate planning and holds the Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professorship at Texas Tech School of Law.  He researches, writes, and teaches in the areas of estate planning, wills & trusts and property, and has authored more than 22 books, 35 law review articles, 30 other significant works, and 300 continuing legal education articles. A few of his current scholarship interests include (1) planning for the transfer of and access to a person’s digital assets, both when the person is disabled and upon death, (2) studying the impact of legalized recreational and medical marijuana on estate planning, (3) exploring the potential of including photographs of items a person wishes to give away in his or her will, (4) helping communication challenged clients plan their estates, and (5) investigating professional responsibility and ethical concerns that arise in estate planning.

Prof. Beyer is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the REPTL Reporter, the official journal of the largest section of the State Bar of Texas, the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section with distribution to over 9,000 members. He is also an Academic Fellow and Regent of the American College of Trust & Estate Council, a member of the American Law Institute, and has been inducted into the Estate Planning Hall of Fame. From 2010 through 2017, Prof. Beyer has made more than 200 presentations coast-to coast by accepting invitations to share the results of his research at seminars and symposia for national, state and local bar associations, universities, and civic groups. On almost a daily basis, Prof. Beyer provides free advice to attorneys working on pro bono or reduced-fee cases.

Sandra D. Glazier is an equity shareholder with Lipson Neilson P.C. in its Bloomfield Hills, Michigan law firm office. Glazier concentrates her practice in the areas of family law; probate litigation; estate planning; and, probate and trust administration. She has served as a mediator, arbitrator and guardian ad litem in family court and probate cases. With over 38 years of experience, she has handled a multitude of complex cases. In the probate litigation arena, Glazier has represented parties in some of the largest estates subjected to litigation in Michigan. Her experience includes, but is not limited to, complex litigation relating to claims of breach of fiduciary duty, will and trust contests, and claims of undue influence or lack of capacity.

Sandy has presented on estate planning and probate litigation issues at Bloomberg BNA Estate and Gift Tax Advisory Board, Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute, Kansas City Estate Planning Symposium, ABA, WealthManagement.com., Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE), OCBA, STEP-Orange County, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Annual Estate, Tax, Legal & Financial Planning Seminar and Wilmington Trust’s New York Trust Symposium.  She is the author of Electronic Wills: Revolution, Evolution, or Devolution, Tax Management Estates, Gifts and Trusts Journal, Bloomberg Tax.

Bruce Stone is a shareholder in Goldman Felcoski & Stone P.A. in Coral Gables, Florida.  His practice consists primarily of estate planning for both domestic and foreign clients.  A significant portion of his practice involves disputed or complex problem situations in which he is retained to find creative planning solutions or to serve as expert witness, mediator or arbitrator. Bruce graduated from the University of Florida with high honors and the Florida State University College of Law with highest honors.

Bruce is a Fellow and Past President of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He is a past chair of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar and chair of the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Trust and Estate Acts, which monitors and recommends updates to the Uniform Probate Code, the Uniform Trust Code, and all other trust and estate related uniform laws on a nationwide basis. In addition to his practice, Bruce is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law, where he teaches in the graduate masters program in estate planning. He is a frequent lecturer for organizations such as the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, the American Bar Association, ALI-CLE, the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, and the Florida Bar.

Suzanne Brown Walsh is a partner in Murtha Cullina LLP, where she represents clients in the areas of estate and tax planning, particularly for families of children with special needs, elder law, estate and trust administration, trust modifications and trustee changes.  Suzy is nationally known for her speaking and writing, including the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the Southern Federal Tax Institute, and numerous regional organizations throughout the country.  She is a member of the Connecticut Bar and holds a B.S. degree from Boston University and a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School.

Since 2005, Suzy has served as one of Connecticut’s Commissioners on Uniform Laws.  As such, she represents the state as a member of the Uniform Law Commission, a national organization which promotes statutory uniformity. She is presently a member of the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Trust and Estate Acts, chairs the ULC’s drafting Committee on Electronic Wills, and is a member of the Drafting Committee on Fundraising Through Public Appeals Act.  Previously, Suzy chaired the ULC’s drafting committees for the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (2015), the Amendments to the Uniform Principal and Income Act (2008), as well as a study committee on Mental Health Advance Directives.  In addition, Suzy taught Estate Planning and Taxation at the University of Connecticut Law School, and is an ACTEC fellow.