Morrisons Solicitors: Can a Will be executed safely during lockdown?

By The Editor

5th Nov 2021 | Local News

Richard Inston
Richard Inston

A will is probably one of the most important documents you will ever have prepared and

keeping it up to date is essential to ensure your wishes are carried out exactly as planned.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions on day-to-day life currently imposed on us all by the UK Government present practical difficulties for everyone and every aspect of one's life.

We are finding practical solutions to assist clients, new and existing, in preparing and

updating wills. Whilst we are able to have meetings with clients via video calls and we have the remote working capability to prepare a will from our home working space, a critical element in producing a legally valid will is that it is signed in accordance with the legal formalities of the Wills Act 1837.

Essentially, for a will to be validly executed (signed), the person making the will must sign the will in the presence of two independent witnesses who must then also sign the will.

Of course, this requirement for three people to all sign the same document in the presence of one another flies in the face of the requirement that we maintain a safe social distance from one another.

There are reports that the Law Society and the Ministry of Justice are discussing ways to deformalise the signing of wills. There is already in existence scope for members of the armed forces to draw up a will without the need for compliance with the usual will signing formalities and this may even be an oral declaration of their wishes.

The intention being that a will can be made at short notice where a person is about to put their life at risk. In the early days of the pandemic it was suggested that new legislation be temporarily introduced to extend the making of these 'privileged wills' beyond members of the armed forces until the COVID-19 crisis has come to an end.

In the meantime, our teams are finding a range of safe and creative methods by which to ensure our clients' wills are validly executed whilst adhering to the requirement to maintain socially responsible and safe social distancing.

Our offices are currently temporarily closed but our Private Client team continue to work

from their respective homes, and we are providing close to our usual service.

If you have any questions regarding the topic discussed above, please don't hesitate to contact Richard Inston, Senior Associate Solicitor in Morrisons Solicitors Teddington Private Client team by email on [email protected] or any of our private client solicitors on 020 8943 1441 or email [email protected].

     

New teddington Jobs Section Launched!!
Vacancies updated hourly!!
Click here: teddington jobs

Share:

Related Articles

The Teddington RNLI are featuring at this year's Teddington Christmas Light Up (Credit: Tilly O'Brien)
Local News

Teddington RNLI to feature at Teddington Light Up

Park Lane Stables in Teddington is hosting a winter NHS engagement event next month (Credit: Nub News)
Local News

Teddington’s Park Lane Stables to host winter NHS engagement event

Sign-Up for our FREE Newsletter

We want to provide teddington with more and more clickbait-free local news.
To do that, we need a loyal newsletter following.
Help us survive and sign up to our FREE weekly newsletter.

Already subscribed? Thank you. Just press X or click here.
We won't pass your details on to anyone else.
By clicking the Subscribe button you agree to our Privacy Policy.