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Signed, sealed & e-delivered?

26 February 2020 / Roderick Ramage
Issue: 7876 / Categories: Features , Wills & Probate
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E-wills: Roderick Ramage asks whether we can have the future now
  • A speculative argument that the formal requirements of the Wills Act 1837 can be satisfied by an electronic will viewed on screen and executed electronically.

In the US the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws provides legislation for states to adopt and, at its annual conference in July 2019, approved the Uniform Electronic Wills Act and recommended it for enactment in all states: www.uniformlaws.com and navigate from the Search Acts button.

This Uniform Act, when adopted, will enable testators to create, sign notarise, and execute a valid will online without the need for the physical presence of another person and enables probate courts to give electronic wills legal effect.

A number of articles and notes speculate whether we should adopt a similar law. The idea is not new. The Law Commission, 2017 consultation paper 231, ‘Making a will’, devoted chapter 6 to electronic wills. Contrary to what some English commentators have written, the Uniform

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NEWS
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Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
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