Wills and Coronavirus

With the coronavirus pandemic we have seen a significant increase in demand for Wills. However, the social distancing, lockdown and shielding measures introduced by the Government to help fight the pandemic have caused significant difficulties in the execution of Wills. With a second “full” lockdown now in force in England this topic has become relevant once more.

Broadly speaking, and amongst other things, the Wills Act 1837 requires that, in order to be valid, a Will must be signed in the presence of two independent adult witnesses present at the same time. As there are stringent restrictions on our ability to meet with others at this time, this is not easy to achieve, particularly for those who live alone but also, in most cases, for those who do live with others, as the people we live with are likely to be the people we want to benefit under our Wills and a beneficiary of a Will or a spouse of a beneficiary of a Will cannot be a witness to the Will or the gift to that beneficiary under the Will will fail.

Read the full article here.