The Estate & Asset Protection Law Firm Owner, Shannon Pawley, explains that the ability to make a mark of assent on a legal document is viable as a signature and has a longstanding history.

DECATUR, GA, November ••, 2023: Shannon Pawley, Owner of The Estate & Asset Protection Law Firm, has posted a new blog on the law firm’s website entitled “Any Affirmative Mark Can Serve As A Signature On Legal Documents,” in which Ms. Pawley encourages anyone who desires an estate plan to take action despite any physical inability to sign.

Pawley poses two questions, “What happens if, due to an injury or medical condition, a person can no longer write? Does that mean they can never have the authority to make legal decisions if they cannot sign their name?” As Pawley notes, “Many people remain highly cognitive but may be physically unable to sign estate planning documents. If you know someone in this position,” she adds, “or someone who doesn’t know how to write – who wants to create an estate plan, please read on. If the individual has the cognitive ability to understand what they are doing, there are legal ways to ensure their documents will be legally viable.”

According to Pawley, “It is a longstanding aspect of the law that a person’s signature does not need to be their name. Instead, a signature can be any mark that a person makes on a document to indicate their assent to the document.” She continues, “It can be an “X” or any other mark. Therefore, a person suffering from severe disability who may not be able to sign their name in cursive but who has the physical capacity to make a mark on a written document can sign a will and last testament and other legal documents in an estate plan by their own hand.”

The entire blog can be read by CLICKING HERE

About The Estate & Asset Protection Law Firm

The Estate & Asset Protection Law Firm was established to serve the legal needs of retiring citizens. The Firm focuses its entire practice on providing strategies to protect independence, privacy, assets and taxes from the government. Shannon Pawley has grown her law practice by providing excellent customer satisfaction with personalized wealth protection plans.

About Shannon M. Pawley, J.D., LL.M

As the owner of The Estate & Asset Protection Law Firm, Shannon M. Pawley and her entire team share a passion which focuses on being able to serve the legal needs of retiring individuals. In our firm, WE BELIEVE that people should not have to lose everything they’ve worked a lifetime to earn and that every person is an individual who deserves respect and the highest quality of life possible, regardless of age or ability. We also believe that privacy and protection are the keys to personal peace. Born and raised in the Tidewater area of Virginia to a tightknit family with strong military service roots, Shannon learned from an early age the value of hard work and the importance of social awareness to ensure you always leave a situation in a better place than how you entered it. In her junior year of high school, Shannon served as U.S. House of Representatives Page during the 101st United States Congressional Session in Washington, D.C. This experience exposed her to numerous new cultures and worldly issues. Walking away from her experience as a U.S. House of Representative Page, Shannon knew that she wanted to pursue legal studies and be able to assist others in obtaining the best results available in difficult situations.

Shannon earned her undergraduate degree at North Carolina Wesleyan College and pursued a law degree from Michigan State University College of Law. After obtaining her law degree and becoming a licensed attorney in Michigan, she continued her educational pursuit by acquiring a LL.M. (Master of Law) in Taxation from Wayne State University. After moving to Georgia in 2018, Shannon obtained her Georgia law license and has enjoyed being able to pursue her desire of ensuring persons are able to age with dignity, grace and independence.