Electronic wills: The future?
Solicitors have backed peers in questioning the government’s lack of action on modernising wills, particularly introducing electronic wills.
The House of Lords’ justice and home affairs committee has written to justice minister Sarah Sackman to express disappointment that “the government does not appear to be devoting any energy to will reform”.
In a letter timed to mark the end of Free Wills Month and the beginning of Will Aid, its chair, Lord Foster of Bath said it was now 17 months since the Law Commission published its report [1], Modernising wills law, which made 31 recommendations, including that electronic will should be capable of being formally valid on an equal basis to paper wills.
The Ministry of Justice has yet to publish a formal response to the report. In a report on implementing Law Commission recommendations published in February this year, the MoJ said: “The government recognises that the current law is outdated, but the guiding principle in undertaking reform will be to ensure that it does not compromise existing freedoms or safeguards.”
Lord Bath complained that, while electronic signatures and documents “can be used to amass an estate, they cannot be used to bequeath one”.
He went on: “The committee is not immune to the concerns some have around the unique nature of wills, in particular fears of fraud and forgery. However, these problems are not insurmountable if electronic wills feature robust safeguards using reliable systems.”
The peer cited support from the Law Society as well as polling from the National Will Register showing that 36% of the UK population would “happily have a digital will”.
Lord Bath noted that the February 2026 report said the MoJ would make further announcements on the reform “in due course”, a phrase Ms Sackman also used in a Commons debate on the recommendations in June.
“It has now been over 17 months since the Law Commission published its report, and it is the view of this committee that the course is now due.”
The letter asked the MoJ to clarify what action it was taking to make digital wills legally valid, how it intended to implement the Law Commission’s recommendations, when its full response would be published and why there has been “a significant delay” in doing so.
The government is usually expected to respond to such letters within a fortnight.
Law Society president Brett Dixon welcomed the pressure from the committee.
“Too many Law Commission reports have been left on the shelf for years. This one must not be. We urge the government to set out its plans without further delay so that we are no longer working with outdated laws.”
Research published last December found that most private client specialists had “mixed feelings” about digital wills [2] – but would embrace them if they happen.