Conservative MP and Solicitor, John Stevenson has been airing his disagreement over video Wills citing it as unnecessary and risky for firms.
As the impact of September’s legislative change begin to emerge, John Stevenson, Conservative MP for Carlisle and managing partner of Bendles LLP told The Law Society Gazette that the usage of internet for witnessing Wills will ‘open up the opportunity for undue influence’ which could mean solicitors could face penalties.
‘I suspect there will be very few legal practices willing to embrace witnessing wills in this way… My practice wouldn’t touch it. I just think it opens up too many risks as a practitioner.’
The Wills Act 1837 (Electronic Communications) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Order 2020 SI 2020/952 come into force at the end of September– amending s9 of the Wills Act to permit live video “presence”, retrospectively from 31 January 2020 and temporarily to 31 January 2022 in England and Wales.
The new rules were backdated to 31 January 2020 and allow testators’ signatures to be witnessed using video conferencing software, such as Zoom, Facetime and Skype.
Stevenson said he was ‘infuriated’ by the change in legislation, which involved no parliamentary debate. ‘If they were going to change it, it should be done by primarily legislation; with a proper consultation; and with a proper debate in parliament.’
Ian Bond head of wills & Estates at Thursfields Solicitors recently aired his views on Twitter following Stevenson’s comments that video wills exposes solicitors to too many risks. He said:
“I disagree with @John4Carlisle……….Like ‘death bed’ wills Solicitors don’t have to do them. Each firm should have its own policy and mitigate the risk for themselves”
Last month, probate practitioners discussed John Stevenson’s strong views on probate service in a Westminster debate.
The solicitor and MP spoke at a Westminster Hall debate saying the probate service is overwhelmed with more delays and errors than it was two years ago, even though there are now higher staff numbers and a bigger budget. And he told the government that the quality of the probate service has ‘deteriorated’ since district registries were centralised and paper applications were replaced by a digital system.
