Changes to Estates and Trusts Statutes.

SB 309 creates North Carolina's first Uniform Electronic Wills Act, allowing residents to create legally valid wills using electronic means. The bill requires electronic wills to be signed by the person making the will (testator), stored in readable electronic form, and witnessed by two people - matching current paper-will requirements. It also establishes procedures for certifying paper copies of electronic wills for court use and converting existing paper wills to electronic format. This directly affects anyone in North Carolina creating or updating a will, providing a modern method to execute wills while maintaining legal safeguards. The bill aligns with recommendations from the North Carolina Bar Association's Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section.