STEP was pleased to attend the latest Today’s Thought Focus Roundtable, hosted by Today’s Wills & Probate on 15 November 2017.
Prof Nick Hopkins and Spencer Clarke from the England & Wales Law Commission attended, and gave participants the opportunity to discuss its latest wills consultation.
The consultation paper contains 14 chapters and 64 questions, with varying proposals for reform. The most pertinent issues facing STEP members are the review of testamentary capacity, statutory wills, supported will-making, formalities, electronic wills, the protection of vulnerable testators, and interpretation and rectification provisions.
Key reforms that members welcome are:
• Modernisation of the language to make it more accessible to the public.
• An alignment between the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Banks v Goodfellow test.
• Improving the statutory will application process to further protect elderly or frail testators.
• The implementation of supported will-making, provided that accredited individuals are used and the proper safeguards are incorporated.
• Enhanced protection measures for vulnerable testators.
The Commission confirmed that 177 responses have been received in response to the consultation, which concluded on 10 November 2017. More than 30 of these are thought to be from members of the public.
Prof Nick Hopkins commented: ‘This roundtable event, bringing together a diverse group of those involved in the writing of wills, will be very helpful for us in ensuring that our proposals for reform are grounded in the experience of those making a will, and engage with real-life concerns.’
The Law Commission will be analysing the responses in the coming months and will collate them into a report. In the meantime, it anticipates forming small working groups representative of the industry to focus on various areas of the draft legislation. It is hoped that the official report will be released by the end of 2018.
STEP will continue to keep you updated on this area of reform.
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