‘What if something happens?’ Canadians’ interest in wills surges amid COVID-19

VANCOUVER-With twins on the way, and their father poised to be called to the frontlines of the fight against the coronavirus any day, 32-year-old Nadine Parker sat down to write her will.

Like millions of other Canadians, Parker has been faced every day with news about death, as the COVID-19 pandemic strains the economy and the health-care system.

Now, lawyers are reporting a surge in interest about wills.

As of Wednesday, nearly 1,000 people in Canada have died after falling sick with COVID-19.

And although young, Parker and her husband decided they should write their wills - just in case.

"It is a scary time. It is an uncertain time. COVID, as we all know, it doesn't pick its victims," she said.

The vast majority of people who die from COVID-19 are seniors, but at least one person in their 20s - a woman in Alberta - has died from the virus in Canada.

"With two children coming, you have to have that conversation of 'What if something happens to both of us?'" said Parker.

Her husband, a registered nurse, used to work at Toronto General Hospital's emergency room. He currently works from home at his new job at Sheridan College but there is "a very high chance" he will be called into the ER to help, Parker said.

So she sat him down.

If one of them was in "the state of being a vegetable," would they want the other to pull the plug? How much pain are either of them willing to be in, if death is imminent? Who would take care of the twins if both Parker and her husband died? Did either of them have prized possessions they wanted to pass on to someone in particular?

"It was a morbid conversation, if I'm being frank," said Parker.

"It's one of the most real conversations we've had in our relationship and in our marriage. You are talking about a time you are not looking forward to, but one that is also inevitable."

And they are far from the only ones thinking about putting their affairs in order.

Estate lawyers - who frequently deal with what happens to people's property after death - say they have seen a spike in calls about wills in recent weeks.

Calls to Richard Weiland's office have tripled since B.C. announced coronavirus-related measures such banning large gatherings and asking people to stay home, nearly about a month ago.

"People are saying things like, 'With everything going on right now, we thought that it was time to update our wills,'" said Weiland, who has practised estate law for 18 years. He is a lawyer at Clark Wilson, a law firm in Vancouver.

He said pre-coronavirus, people often put wills in the category of "important but not urgent." But the pandemic has changed that.

One client called Weiland several weeks ago with a gut-wrenching question: Her spouse had developed a severe case of COVID-19, so, were his affairs in order?

It was a difficult conversation, the lawyer said.

"People are going from normal life and, within a period of a couple of days, a family member is in intensive care and they don't know whether they will make it or not," he said. "Just the suddenness of that is quite a shock, even for us as professionals."

But the vast majority of calls he receives do not come from people who have coronavirus - they come from people who have added "writing a will" to the long list of things they are doing during the pandemic, he said.

More than half of Canadians don't have a will, according to an Angus Reid survey commissioned in 2019 by Wilfull, a company that helps people create wills online.

For millennials such as Parker, having a will is even rarer. More than four in five people in her generation don't have one, according to the same survey, which polled 1,011 respondents in this country.

In Canada, a will is legally binding if it is created by someone "of sound mind" and two people sign as witnesses. No lawyer is required.

But many people do opt to have a lawyer draft will documents for them, and Weiland said he and his team have had to get creative in recent weeks to abide by this rule while also practising social distancing. In one instance, a lawyer stood outside and watched through the kitchen window while their client signed a will inside.

Meanwhile, Willful - which is like "TurboTax for wills," according to its co-founder, Erin Bury - says it saw nearly 1,000 health-care workers create wills using the platform in the past two weeks. The Canadian company is offering its online will-creating services to health-care workers for free.

Overall traffic to the Willful site has nearly quadrupled during the first two weeks of April compared to the same time last month, she said.

And in Ontario, creating a will just got easier.

Last week, the provincial government announced it was allowing the virtual witnessing of wills via video conferencing during the pandemic.

Bury said she hopes B.C. will follow suit. "I imagine it will be a matter of time."

As Parker and her husband prepare for their babies' arrivals, they are taking extra precautions. They wipe down groceries and transfer food from takeout containers onto their own dinnerware before eating.

Parker said knowing that their wills are done gives the couple some peace of mind.

Wanyee Li is a Vancouver-based reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @wanyeelii