MyGoodbyes, currently being piloted, is the brainchild of Travers Smith costs lawyer James Barratt, a project manager in the disputes team, and sits on the Thomson Reuters HighQ platform.
The app gives users the tools to create documents for their funeral arrangements and end-of-life wishes, and provides secure storage for their will and other documents. It also gives users access to educational resources on topics such as estate planning, probate law.
Barratt said: ‘MyGoodbyes provides a platform for people to talk more easily with friends, family and even colleagues about this difficult topic as well as a platform which enables them to put actionable plans in place.’
The idea for the app came from Barratt’s experience with his own father, who died during the pandemic in October 2020 of disseminated lung cancer that had spread, causing him to be bedridden and unable to care for himself. While Barratt’s father had made a will, he hadn’t made any plans about end-of-life healthcare.
A survey of 2,000 UK adults by Opinium for MyGoodbyes found more than a third haven’t talked about end-of-life plans with their loved ones. More than one in five said their reason for not having this discussion is because it’s upsetting to think about mortality. 11% don’t plan to discuss their end-of-life plans with their loved ones at all.
Vicki Gulliver, senior associate at Lodders Solicitors, who sit on the expert panel for the development of MyGoodbyes, said: ‘Through my work, I have seen first-hand the challenges that can arise when a will isn’t in place, so I strongly believe in raising awareness about the importance of planning for the future.
‘The app, which is grounded in academic research, aims to dispel the taboo surrounding talking about and planning for death.’
MyGoodbyes has been accepted on to LawTech Scaler, a Lawtech UK programme designed to help lawtech startups scale successfully.
