Video Will Witnessing: What happens next?

The Law Society of England and Wales has launched a survey to inform its response to future consultations on extending the witnessing of wills via video beyond the end of January 2022. 

In July 2020 the Ministry of Justice announced that temporary legislation would be enacted to legalise the witnessing of wills via video in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The legislation was backdated from January 2020 and would run until the end of January 2022.

The MoJ has indicated it will soon consider the need to extend the legislation beyond January 2022. The Law Society survey will help to inform the industry’s views on

  • the use of video-witnessing of wills
  • any video-witnessing experiences you’ve had during lockdown

CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY

The Law Society has indicated that all responses will be anonymous with the findings published on the Law Society website as part of its response to the MoJ.

Deadline for responses is Monday 15 November at 5pm.

One Response

  1. On line is not safe nor is it professional. I have found a workaround in every case. Document placed on a table and each signatory approached the document, signs and then stands back to let the others do the same. In some instances the attestation has been done in the garden. In my view you cannot WITNESS a signature if you are not there. You cannot scrutinise the document nor can you confirm mental capacity still exists if you are not there. Not a good idea.

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