Excellent experience start to finish – always very responsive to any queries and the turnaround on the property I was buying was very quick, even in the busy time leading up to stamp duty deadline. Jenny was always very helpful and went above and beyond to close on a short timescale.
Laura Willis – Associate Solicitor in our Private Client team
Asks: Is the current law on Wills outdated?
The Law Commission for England and Wales has proposed that the law around Wills should be updated and brought into the “modern world”. The Law Commission wants to change the existing rules about how to create a valid Will where the individual has made their intentions clear in another form.
Under the current law, for a Will to be valid it must be written voluntarily by an individual over the age of 18. The individual must have the mental capacity to make the Will and needs to be signed in the presence of two witnesses who are also both over 18
The Law Commission’s proposal is that where an individual dies unexpectedly and has not made a valid will, but has otherwise expressed their intentions in either electronic or other messages (i.e. a text message or email) then the family could apply to a Court to ask for those communications to be recognised as a formal Will. The Judge would have to approve this and it could be costly to make such an application so this avenue would only be relied on in extreme circumstances and it would still be extremely important to have a valid will in place.
The Wills Act which currently governs the making of a Will in England and Wales has been in place since 1837 and the Law Commission clearly feel that it may be time to update the law to make it more appropriate for the modern era, but they must be aware of the potential issues and costly litigation that this proposal could give rise to. For example, the current law requires a person making a Will to understand all possible claims that could arise against their Estate and so a potential risk of allowing the text message or email to stand as a Will is that the individual sent the message without having full regard of those potential claims. Furthermore, the person who sent the message may have been under severe pressure to do so and may not have the opportunity or advice available to really consider their wishes.
There are many issues that the Law Commission will have to consider and it may well be the case that any message deemed to be a Will by a Judge would only be relied upon in extreme circumstances, but it will be interesting to see how the consultation progresses and what conclusions are made. For the time being, it is essential that you ensure you have a Will in place to make it clear and certain about how you would like to leave your assets.
If you would like our assistance with preparing a Will please contact myself or Lewis Thompson at our Glossop office.
