From Parchment to PCs: The Future of the Wills Act 1837

The Law Commission has now recommended a number of reforms that could reshape the way Wills are created and challenged.

These include:

• Electronic Wills and remote signatures – provided a secure, “reliable” system is used to confirm identity, protect the original document, and prevent tampering.
• Relaxed formalities – giving courts a new dispensing power to uphold a Will that may not comply with technical requirements but clearly reflects the Testator’s intentions.
• Lowering the age requirement – reducing the age for making a Will from 18 to 16. (In Scotland, the minimum age is already just 12.)
• Marriage and civil partnerships – removing the rule that marriage or civil partnership automatically cancels a Will. This aims to prevent “predatory marriages,” though spouses or partners could still claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
• Capacity to make a Will – aligning the current test (from Banks v Goodfellow, 1870) with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
• Gifts to witnesses – courts could have the discretion to validate gifts left to witnesses or their cohabitants, where it is fair to do so.
• Expanded rectification powers – courts could be allowed to correct Wills that fail to reflect the Testator’s true wishes, even beyond clerical mistakes.