This week the Government have announced that they will be introducing temporary legislation to allow people to use video link to witness a will being executed.
This legislation does not extend to permitting electronic signatures. Wet signatures of the person making the will and the witnesses are still required. Also, witnessing pre-recorded videos of the person signing the will is not legally acceptable. It must be viewed in real-time.
IMPORTANT; the guidance states that the remote method should only be used in an emergency when conventional witnessing is impossible.
When signing remotely there are defined stages that must be followed to ensure the validity of the will and the attestation clause must be changed to reflect that the will has been signed by this method.
We are advising clients that if they need to sign their will via this method, then they must inform us in advance so that we can change the attestation clause. We will also be the witnesses to ensure that an appropriate file note has been made of the signing.
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