On 7 September this year the justice secretary published the Wills Act 1837 (Electronic Communications) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Order 2020 (the Order) (https://bit.ly/2G5jySQ). This is an emergency COVID-19 executive measure which sanctions the use of video conferencing technology to witness the making of wills over the internet.
The Order provides, for the first time, a statutory definition of ‘presence’ in s 9(c) and (d) of the Wills Act 1837 (WA 1837) ( https://bit.ly/37GL3NP). These provisions require a testator’s signature to be undertaken in the simultaneous ‘presence’ of two witnesses and for their attestation signatures also to be made in the testator’s ‘presence’.
Section 2(3) of the Order, temporarily amends WA 1837 by inserting: ‘…“presence” includes presence by means of videoconference or other visual transmission.’ This definition is given retrospective effect from 31 January 2020, but for two years only.
This statutory amendment is
