Texting a Will whilst having your coffee and biscuits.
The suggestion is that you could, in the future, make a will by texting, voicemail and email.
It is, just now, England only but, to my mind, not a great idea. I am all for easing Will-making – after all I own MyScottishWill which allows you to make a valid Will at home – but I am not keen on the relaxing of the signing and witnessing arrangements. There is something about that ritual which means that people do not make hasty and unwise decisions.
It also makes it less easy for bad people to strong arm the elderly and vulnerable. It doesn’t need much imagination to see what could happen. It happens now with all the checks and balances.
Leaving it to a judge to decide whether it is a valid will is also questionable. In England, there is a whole legal industry of challenging Wills because the law is uncertain as to what you must leave your children. That is not true in Scotland where court fights are rare. The law should be simple and certain. If it has to go to a judge that is potentially very costly and not, I suspect, something that the deceased would have desired.
The making a Will and the reading of it, after a death, is an emotional experience. Let’s not make it harder.
You can make one immediately – just go to MyScottishWill
Bruce de Wert
Scottish Solicitor
