Inheritance, Wills & Probate questions?

74jax

bery_451 said:

xylophone said:

Have they asked their neighbours as suggested in my previous?

Yes asked but virus fears.

Why don't they use their own pen.  And not touch the paper..... 🤔 

bery_451

74jax said:

bery_451 said:

xylophone said:

Have they asked their neighbours as suggested in my previous?

Yes asked but virus fears.

Why don't they use their own pen.  And not touch the paper..... 🤔 

How you do that with the 2m distancing rule?

bery_451

Okay desperate times calls for desperate measures:
Anyone local in Birmingham who lives in a freehold property for the last 6 years who is under the age of 50 that is available to sign? If interested PM me, name your price for 2 secs of your time and I will reply. 

xylophone

The neighbours can wear gloves and use their own pen when they sign?
On a fine day, your parents can go out into the garden. The neighbours go into their garden.
In the sight of the neighbours, your parents wash and dry their hands.  They sign their wills.
They slip them into a plastic bag and drop over the fence.

The neighbours do their part.
They put the wills back in the bag.
They drop the bag over the fence.
Your parents collect the bag.

74jax

bery_451 said:

74jax said:

bery_451 said:

xylophone said:

Have they asked their neighbours as suggested in my previous?

Yes asked but virus fears.

Why don't they use their own pen.  And not touch the paper..... 🤔 

How you do that with the 2m distancing rule?

It's not too hard. I've been in self isolation, so had to do it with dinners too....., 😂

Just pop the page down that needs signing, sign the will and walk away.  The witness walks up and signs the page, doesn't need to touch the page, and walks away. The owner then walks back and picks it up. It totally can be done and you can stay way more than 2m away too. 

Savvy_Sue

In CostCo, they extend a clipboard towards you with the clip 'open'. You slip your receipt onto the clipboard. They put the clip down. They scribble on the receipt (to confirm you have paid for all your items) and release the clip. You take your receipt and leave. 

Malthusian

I have a feeling this is one of those situations where every solution has a problem. There's a lot of it about.

badger09

Malthusian said:

I have a feeling this is one of those situations where every solution has a problem. There's a lot of it about.

I've had that feeling for several months. Persistent though

Yellow_mango

I seem to remember reading in the context of house purchases that documents could be witnessed over Skype - so the witness watches the signing of the document and the document is then posted to the witness for them to add their signature. 

On googling for evidence of this, I found this interesting article, which seems to suggest this method is not advised in the case of wills at least, although further legislation and / or guidance may be introduced in due course. 

https://hardwicke.co.uk/will-making-and-coronavirus-can-wills-be-remotely-witnessed/

Malthusian

The problem with the argument that technology has moved on since the relevant precedents and we now have Skype, is that you can replace "Skype" with "deepfakes". I agree with Hardwicke, if you had a Will witnessed via Skype and it went to court, you might make legal history and get away with it, but it is not advisable to try it. (In an earlier thread I flippantly suggested a recorded video taken in front of a news channel, which is even worse as the witnesses can't interact with you to verify it isn't fake.)

Especially when it is totally unnecessary to try to make legal history. Just find two people who aren't round the twist with coronoia, wear gloves, and get them to sign a separate page for the witness signatures with their own pen, which you then attach to the back of the Will.