Majority Of Will Writers Won’t Enact Video Will Witnessing

In our latest sentiment survey, in which we focused on the return to ‘normality’, we wanted to see what the future would hold for Will writing professionals.

Clearly there are concerns around client welfare and the risk of a second wave; with over 70% of participants revealing that they now offer alternate options to face-to-face meetings, such as telephone or video calls.

Maybe the most surprising part of the survey, is the reaction to the fact that wills that have been witnessed via video link during the coronavirus pandemic have now been legalised by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), in a short term change to the 1837 Wills Act.

45% of respondents said that amending the legislation was a positive short term move for the industry, whilst just over a quarter (26%) argued to the contrary.

However, 63% of those who took part in our survey revealed that they had no plans to enact video witnessing for Wills in their business.

With regards to ‘business as normal’, 70% had seen their work volumes remain constant or had even seen an upturn in work. Which is good news in the recovery of the sector following the pandemic.

Working habits may have also changed, with a balance being struck between working both remotely and in the office. 62% of participants revealed they were going to continue to mix up their work place environments, as opposed to just working from the office (25%) or working remotely (13%)