Signing Will remotely

p00hsticks

madbadrob said:

Idpullthecurtain said:

madbadrob said:

As I understand the .gov site your witnesses can watch you sign the will Remotely ie via video conference call and vice versa at a later date but the actual act of signing still as to take place.  I am assuming that the OP meant digital signinng as we do say for a contract by ticking a box and then the digital footprint serving as the identifier

Rob

No I didnt mean digital signatures.  I just meant the process of signing remotely and the different parties being in different locations.  Seems questionable to me.

And Poohsticks.

What currfently is allowed is and ill use myself and you 2 if I may.

I write a will and through my solicitor ask you two to be my witnesses.  You both live in say Sussex and I live in Yorkshire.  My solicitor epmloys the use of a solicitor in your home town and you attend their office where a video link is set up.  I appear on this and I see you at your end.  The will is then presented by my solicitor to me and you watch me sign that will.  I then assume that will is then placed in an envelope DX'ed to your solicitor and on a set date and time all three of us again appear on the video link where I watch you sign the same will which as my wet signature on it.  This is then Dx'ed back. 

It just seems an awful lot of unnecessary and probably expensive faff - why not just simply ask the solicitor and clerk to witness your signature when you are signing it in their office ? Witnesses don't need to know you in person (Your  solicitor will already have asked you to show them some id such as passport or driving licence), just confirm that they have seen you signing the will. 

My initial thought was that you were housebound and / or for some reason didn't want to get solicitors involved, but if you are happy to attend a solicitors office, then just get them to witness your signature themselves - no ned to invovle any other remote parties, solicitors or otherwise. . 

madbadrob

p00hsticks said:

madbadrob said:

Idpullthecurtain said:

madbadrob said:

As I understand the .gov site your witnesses can watch you sign the will Remotely ie via video conference call and vice versa at a later date but the actual act of signing still as to take place.  I am assuming that the OP meant digital signinng as we do say for a contract by ticking a box and then the digital footprint serving as the identifier

Rob

No I didnt mean digital signatures.  I just meant the process of signing remotely and the different parties being in different locations.  Seems questionable to me.

And Poohsticks.

What currfently is allowed is and ill use myself and you 2 if I may.

I write a will and through my solicitor ask you two to be my witnesses.  You both live in say Sussex and I live in Yorkshire.  My solicitor epmloys the use of a solicitor in your home town and you attend their office where a video link is set up.  I appear on this and I see you at your end.  The will is then presented by my solicitor to me and you watch me sign that will.  I then assume that will is then placed in an envelope DX'ed to your solicitor and on a set date and time all three of us again appear on the video link where I watch you sign the same will which as my wet signature on it.  This is then Dx'ed back. 

It just seems an awful lot of unnecessary and probably expensive faff - why not just simply ask the solicitor and clerk to witness your signature when you are signing it in their office ? Witnesses don't need to know you in person (Your  solicitor will already have asked you to show them some id such as passport or driving licence), just confirm that they have seen you signing the will. 

My initial thought was that you were housebound and / or for some reason didn't want to get solicitors involved, but if you are happy to attend a solicitors office, then just get them to witness your signature themselves - no ned to invovle any other remote parties, solicitors or otherwise. . 

Completely agree with you but that is not what the OP was asking for.  I am assuming from his question that he/she was asking for an opinion based response to the protections afforded by a will signed remotely.  I asked a question which I then answered myself and then in a further reply I gave the mechanics for how this could be done.  The OP can now make an informed view as to the robustness of the protections on a will from this method.

We will see in due course what the Law society made of it all and then let the government work out how their recommendations can be brought into current law or even an ammended law.  After all the current law believe it or not was first written in 1837 and apart from the covid amendments hasnt bween changed in that time

Rob