REMOTE WILLS - we now have the much anticipated announcement from the government that witnessing wills by Skype, Zoom etc. will be expressly authorised by statutory instrument coming into force in (we believe) September. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-on-making-wills-using-video-conferencing

A few points to note. There has been much debate about whether or not remote witnessing is permitted under the existing legislation. This temporary change is intended to remove any doubt. It will have retrospective effect from 31 Jan 2020. Unless extended, it will expire Jan 2022

We don't yet have the draft SI. Practitioners will need to think carefully about whether or not they are comfortable proceeding with remote witnessing of wills in the absence of the draft law.

One very important limitation - it appears that it is not intended to expressly authorise a testator to appoint someone to sign on their behalf in T's remote presence. I assume that remote witnessing will be expressly permitted for s.9(b) and (c) of the Wills Act only.

This means that the remote execution process will have to take place over at least 2 conferences with the will being sent between T and the witnesses in between each call. A very well traveled will and a lot of scope for things to go wrong with delays or the will going missing.

You can read the guidance on remote execution of wills from @STEPSociety working group which I was very pleased to participate in here https://www.step.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Briefing%20note%20on%20execution%20of%20wills%20%28E%26W%29.pdf

And we all need to pay tribute to the enormous hard work of @IanBondTEP in helping to bring this change about.