header-logo header-logo

Where there’s a will; there’s a way

04 June 2020 / Nicholas Bevan
Issue: 7889 / Categories: Features , Wills & Probate
printer mail-detail
22067
Is it a misconception that a witness needs to be physically present at a will signing? Dr Nicholas Bevan reports

Life is short and we all take an occasional shortcut now and then. In our private lives we do not hesitate to rely on the trusty sat-nav instead of undertaking the map-reading for ourselves. Some authors might even resort to a tired cliché for their article’s headline!

As busy professionals, most of us will occasionally have substituted a case header for the judgment we know we should have read. Sometimes we adopt the opinion of a trusted commentator, particularly when it is plausible.

However, this kind of referential behaviour can lead us badly astray. Even the most esteemed institutions and authorities, just like our sat-navs, can have a bad day. The present controversy over whether it is possible to execute a valid will over the internet using remote video technology, is a prime example of the blind leading the blind.

There is a near uniform consensus within

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

CBI South-East Council—Mike Wilson

CBI South-East Council—Mike Wilson

Blake Morgan managing partner appointed chair of CBI South-East Council

Birketts—Phillippa O’Neill

Birketts—Phillippa O’Neill

Commercial dispute resolution team welcomes partner in Cambridge

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Firm strengthens international funds capability with senior hire

NEWS
The proposed £11bn redress scheme following the Supreme Court’s motor finance rulings is analysed in this week’s NLJ by Fred Philpott of Gough Square Chambers
In this week's issue, Stephen Gold, NLJ columnist and former district judge, surveys another eclectic fortnight in procedure. With humour and humanity, he reminds readers that beneath the procedural dust, the law still changes lives
Generative AI isn’t the villain of the courtroom—it’s the misunderstanding of it that’s dangerous, argues Dr Alan Ma of Birmingham City University and the Birmingham Law Society in this week's NLJ
James Naylor of Naylor Solicitors dissects the government’s plan to outlaw upward-only rent review (UORR) clauses in new commercial leases under Schedule 31 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, in this week's NLJ. The reform, he explains, marks a seismic shift in landlord-tenant power dynamics: rents will no longer rise inexorably, and tenants gain statutory caps and procedural rights
Writing in NLJ this week, James Harrison and Jenna Coad of Penningtons Manches Cooper chart the Privy Council’s demolition of the long-standing ‘shareholder rule’ in Jardine Strategic v Oasis Investments
back-to-top-scroll