In the midst of a pandemic like the one we are experiencing, many people are rethinking their legacy and trying to make a will to avoid further problems. The confinement, the disease, the restrictions on mobility. All these events make this process more and more complicated, so video calls are becoming more and more important, so we will soon see many wills made online, the case of the United Kingdom is clear. 

The UK Government has announced it will revise the Wills Act 1837, in response to coronavirus (COVID-19). Making a Will has never been more important for many. However, without expert advice, it's very easy to invalidate your Will.

Under existing law, the witnesses to your Will are required to be physically present with you when you sign your Will, ideally in the same room, but absolutely within a clear line of sight. So, witnessing through a window can work. Likewise, you should have an uninterrupted view of your witnesses attesting (recording in writing) that they have seen you sign your Will. The risk of not doing this correctly is to make an invalid Will.

Fortunately, live video-conferencing lines of sight will soon be permitted, which will be welcome news to some.

However, this change is not without its challenges. Be aware of the following:

• You cannot use pre-recorded video for this process. Live video is required of both signing and witnessing.

• Current government guidance specifies that you should hold the first page of the Will up to the camera for your witnesses to see and then turn to the signature page, ensuring they can see you sign in the correct place. Carefully check camera angles during this process.

• There can only be one Will document. There will be an inevitable delay in its completion, whilst it is delivered to both your witnesses for them to sign (again by live video link).

• Your Will is not valid until everyone has signed, resulting in an incomplete Will during this lag time. This could present difficulties if, for example, you change your mind or lose capacity between signing the Will yourself and your witnesses signing. The Government's guidance states that the witnesses should ideally sign within 24 hours. A longer period of time may be unavoidable, but the guidance notes that the longer the process takes, the greater the potential for problems to arise.

• As the Will document will need to be sent between you and your witnesses and back again, there is also a risk of its being lost or damaged if you are posting it.

• The whole process should be recorded if possible. There will be a minimum of two separate video recordings - one for you to sign the Will and the second for your two witnesses to sign, if they are together in the same room when they do so. If they are not, there will need to be three separate video recordings to complete the Will signing procedure.

• Electronic signatures are not permitted.

The temporary amendment is to be made in September, lasting until 31 January 2022, and will apply retrospectively. So any Will (which has not already been admitted to probate) made in this way since 31 January 2020 will be valid if compliant with the legislation.

The validity of a Will may be hard to establish in many cases, leading to the potential for an increase in challenges to Wills made by video, by opportunistic beneficiaries. Our advice is to only use this newly-permitted method of signing and witnessing your Wills as a last resort, after receiving detailed professional advice on how to comply with the new procedure.

For specialist legal advice on defending or challenging a Will, please contact Fiona Lawrence in the Private Client team at award-winning law firm VWV on 07909 901 370, or at flawrence@vwv.co.uk.