My will, my way

The formal requirements for a valid will are set out in s 9 of the Wills Act 1837. In layman’s terms, for a will to be valid in England and Wales, it must be in writing and it must be signed by the testator in presence of two witnesses, who must also sign it. This seems straightforward. Yet, in a survey carried out in 2015 by the Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS), ‘inadvertent failure to observe formalities required for due execution’ was cited as one of the main reasons for probate and will disputes. Why?

Time to modernise?

The black letter law set out above has long been upheld in cases like Re Colling [1972] 1 WLR 1440 [1972] 3 All ER 729, or Re Groffman [1969] 1 WLR 733 [1969] 2 All ER 108. In that case, the judge was ‘perfectly satisfied that the document was intended by the deceased to be executed