Wills - A Most Vital Document

Wills are a heavily-overlooked document. Quite naturally people always find ways to put off creating Wills as they can be unpleasant to think about, however the current pandamic really pushes home just how important these documents really are. Everyone should have a Will, or consider having any old Wills revised.

Clearly, writing a Will during this Coronavirus lockdown presents some challenges.  Helpfully however the Ministry of Justice has identified those who are advising people in self isolation on executing their Wills as being Key Workers.

Traditionally a Will cannot be witnessed electronically. By law the Will has to be signed by the person making it and two independent witnesses. The witnesses must not be beneficiaries or married to the beneficiaries, and must be physically present while the Will is signed.

A solution that has been suggested is to ask neighbours or friends to witness a Will signing while taking precautions:

• You can ask people to be witnesses if they are not displaying Coronavirus symptoms
• The signing should be outside (garden table or a driveway)
• Everyone should wear gloves and use their own pens; and
• While each person is signing observe the two metre rule.

During this most vital time Hewetts can prepare Wills for you. There is no requirement for a face to face meeting, and we can prepare simpler Wills for only £300+VAT. Please contact Ana Whitton at a.whitton@hewetts.co.uk.

Published on 09/04/2020