‘Act now on wills’ law makers urged, as Law Commission recommendations remain unfulfilled

The Law Society of England and Wales has renewed its call for the government to act on reforming the law governing the writing of wills.

Six months on from the Law Commission’s seminal Modernising Wills Law report in May 2025, the Law Society has called on law-makers to “act now” and implement the reforms outlined in the draft bill accompanying the Law Commission’s report.

Speaking in November last year, Law Society president Mark Evans said it was “imperative that the Wills Act is brought in line with our times”. Failure to do so would continue to deny people access to justice and protection of their last wishes, he added.

As Free Wills Month gets underway throughout March, Evans has reiterated his calls for reform. “Although the law on wills has barely changed in almost 190 years, modern life has,” he said.

“People still cannot make a legally recognised electronic will, and the law needs to reflect modern understandings of capacity, including conditions like dementia.”

The Law Society supports proposals “for courts to recognise taking a person’s intentions into account when looking at their will,” he added. “This helps to level the playing field and may encourage more people to draft a will, even if the legal details in making a valid will were not entirely followed.”

The Commission’s report calls for the introduction of dispensing powers to give effect to the intentions of a will where is it invalid or where a person’s intentions are clear. It also recommends courts should be able to rectify a will where it is satisfied it does not give effect to the testator’s intentions because the drafter failed to understand the meaning or direct effect of the language used in the will.

While dispensing powers would assist where there are failures of process, rectification assumes due process has been followed errors exist which do not give effect to the testator’s intentions. ,

The current legislation, passed in 1837, is outdated and does not reflect today’s digital society or the modern reality of family systems, Evans concluded. Endorsing the work of the Commission, he urged the government to “seize the opportunity” to introduce necessary reforms on wills.

“We stand ready to work with the government to discuss and implement the Law Commission’s recommendations and bring wills firmly into the 21st century.”