Wills are a fundamental part of both retirement and estate planning. Yet the law concerning Wills is nearly all based on the original Victorian-era Wills Act of 1837.
The 2025 “Modernising Wills Law” report by the Law Commission (LC) contains recommendations to bring the law into the 21st century and further protect the interests of the testator (the person writing the will).
Key recommendations
Key recommendations made in the report include:
No automatic Will revocation when you marry
Currently, when you first marry, enter a civil partnership, or remarry after divorce, any former Will you have made becomes void. So you need to make a new one. As the report says:
“This rule can be exploited by those who enter a predatory marriage with a vulnerable person – marrying them in order to inherit from them.”
This does not apply to cohabitees who are not married.
It’s also a myth that on divorce, any former Will is completely revoked. It isn’t, as only references to your ex-spouse are removed. Their removal would be a problem if the sole beneficiary of your Will was your now ex-spouse, or the sole named executor. This could result in other members of your family inheriting under the rules of intestacy which you may not want.
Equally, as the Law Gazette reminds:
“A divorcee (should) review their current will on divorce as they may still want their ex-spouse to be an executor or trustee of any trust in their will (or arising on their death), for the benefit of any children they have together.”
Testamentary freedom beyond a written Will
This would give a court the power to use documents and records to assess a person’s last wishes, rather than just dismissing an invalid Will. It’s on a case-by-case basis and only in exceptional circumstances.
“This will address the strictness of the current law, under which non-compliance with the formality rules makes a will invalid no matter how clear the person’s intentions were.”
Wills for 16 year olds
At present, you need to be aged 18 to write a Will that’s valid in England and Wales. The Law Commission suggests this lowered to age 16, recognising the substantial worth of some younger people and the need to respect their wishes. They also proposed that a court could allow a child younger than 16 to write a Will on application to the Family Court which would “incorporate questions of whether it is in the child’s best interests to make the will in question.”
Coercion protection
Under the present law, it is remarkably difficult to prove that undue influence was exerted to coerce someone into writing or signing a Will. The recommendation is that the courts can ‘infer’ undue influence when there is reasonable grounds to suspect it. See below on how using a professional Will writer like myself can help further safeguard against coercion.
Electronic Wills
There is a growing trend to support electronic Wills, so long as they are ‘safe and reliable’, as the report recommends. My experience during the pandemic of standing at the end of driveways witnessing signatures signed on car bonnets cemented the need for a modern solution to the traditional ‘wet’ signature.
However, in my mind, the default option for anyone able to do so should be physically signing a Will in the presence of a third party like myself, that knows the rules and has the interests of the testator as their focus.
For more details on what is proposed, see Today’s Family Lawyer .
How using a professional will writer can protect your Will
As you’ve probably noticed by now, the Law Commission is particularly concerned with issues around coercion and undue influence on those writing their Wills by family and others.
Using a professional Will writer like myself provides an additional layer of scrutiny to the process of making any Will. If someone comes to me for advice and/or to write a Will, I am an impartial third party. I have no vested interest in the contents of that Will (and if I did, I would pass it on to another trusted Will Writer to avoid conflicts of interest anyway).
All professional Will writers have a duty of care to ensure that the Will contains the provisions the person wants in it, not what others may want. Under the banner of Panthera Estate Planning, I am a proud member of the Society of Will Writers and I adhere to their strict Code of Practice and ethics.
We have a duty to consider if the person making the Will has the mental capacity to specify the provision in the Will that they want. We need to be sure they are not being coerced into signing something they either do not understand or do not want to sign. This includes, as the report suggests, those getting married/ just got married and are making a new Will as a result. If we have any concerns, we can refuse to proceed in drafting a Will.
Keeping it private
If you have any concerns, or want to keep the terms of your Will private, there is a huge advantage in coming to my office to sign your Will. No member of the family, your partner, your children or even your spouse needs to be present, as any witness to you signing the Will must not be a beneficiary anyway.
I can sign as an independent witness for Wills that I draft. My status as a member of the Society of Will Writer will ensure that should the Will come under scrutiny, any court or lawyer will know it has been created professionally, free from external influences and in accordance with the law.
I feel this is particularly important as the government (and the country) discusses further the implications of the assisted dying bill. We must safeguard people’s choices in life and in death, and a comprehensive Will should be part of that end of life planning.
On a more pragmatic note, my experience as an estate planner and former financial advisor means I can advise you of your options of how to bequeath money, property, heirlooms and more to your loved ones in the most tax efficient way for your heirs.
Professional Will writing services in Waterlooville
if you want to write a Will for the first time, revise an existing one or make a new Will after marriage, just get in touch.
About the author
Paul Hammond is an experienced retirement planner, financial and estate planner, family man and keen wildlife photographer. He is a Certified Retirement Coach with The Retirement Coaching Association and a Member of the Society of Will Writers (MSWW). For more details see https://www.pantheralife.co.uk/meet-paul.
