Wills Modernisation
Wills Modernisation
Is how we write Wills stuck in the Victorian ages?
This month, the Law Commission has published its report on how laws around the making of Wills should be modernised. It is not surprising that the current rules, dating back to the Wills Act 1837, sometimes struggle to keep up with 21st century life.
The report contains a wide range of proposals such as allowing Wills to be completed digitally and giving vulnerable people more protection by making it easier to challenge a Will on the grounds that undue influence was at play. It also hopes to apply the more modern mental capacity test to the making of Wills, to better align this with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and other documents such as Lasting Powers of Attorney, and to reduce the minimum Will making age requirement from 18 to 16.
One of the most fundamental proposed changes is that there be a new process to allow a simple letter of wishes to be given the legal status of a Will by the courts, if the intentions of the person who wrote it are clear. Under current law, if a document has not been signed in the right way (in the presence of two witnesses) it will not have no legal effect whatsoever, which is why it is so important that a Will is completed correctly. Even if the law changes in the years to come, it will likely still be quicker and cheaper to complete a Will in the correct manner to begin with, rather than your family having to make a court application to try to “upgrade” a letter of wishes.
Perhaps most worrying of all is that the report has identified the need to tackle a recent increase in so called “predatory marriage” financial abuse. This is where an abuser targets someone with the aim of marrying them purely to inherit that person’s estate when they pass away, knowing that the marriage will revoke any existing Will (sometimes without the victim being aware of this). The abuser will then inherit under the laws of intestacy, which set out that a spouse will receive at least the first £322,000. The Law Commission has recommended that the law which revokes a person’s Will automatically on marriage should be abolished, but this would not help in situations where the victim has not made a Will to begin with; yet another reason why, even if the reforms are put into effect, Wills remain as important as ever.
Established in 1881, almost as old as the Wills Act itself, Kerseys Solicitors has helped generations of clients to ensure that their Wills accord with their wishes and are completed correctly. Our team of experienced Private Client Solicitors offer face-to-face or remote appointments.
If you would like advice about your Will, please contact one of our offices:
Kerseys Solicitors in Felixstowe on 01394 834557 or at [email protected]
Kerseys Solicitors in Ipswich on 01473 213311 or at [email protected]
Kerseys Solicitors in Woodbridge on 01394 813732 or at [email protected]
Kerseys Solicitors in Colchester on 01206 584584 or at [email protected]
