The Draft Wills Bill 2025: Modernising Will-Writing and Reducing Disputes
On 16th May 2025, the Law Commission published its final report into modernising the law around wills and introduced its draft Wills Bill 2025.
It was barely one month into the reign of the young Queen Victoria that Parliament passed the Wills Act 1837. This sets out the formalities required to make a will. It was later in 1870 that the court in the case of Banks v Goodfellow set out the test for testamentary capacity that we still use today in many will disputes and contested inheritance cases.
Six monarchs later, the Law Commission has just published its recommendations to modernise the law surrounding the making of wills, providing its draft Wills Bill 2025. This Bill is intended to make the law easier to understand so that people are not put off making a will and, it is hoped, will reduce the number of will disputes and inheritance battles. The Law Commission details that its recommendations are “aimed at supporting testamentary freedom, protecting testators, and increasing clarity and certainty in the law.”
Some of the recommendations within the draft Wills Bill 2025 include:
- Electronic wills – At present, a will must be in writing and signed by the testator and witnessed by two or more people. The draft Act provides for electronic wills, which would have to be identifiable and durable so that there is no dispute that they really were the last will of the testator.
- Automatic will revocation by marriage – The draft Wills Bill 2025 seeks to change the rule so that wills are not revoked by marriage or civil partnership. There is a concern that vulnerable people could be victims of predatory marriage, because the surviving spouse or civil partner would automatically inherit some or all of the person’s estate.
- Mental Capacity – The Mental Capacity Act 2005 introduced a new test for mental capacity, but this did not replace the Banks v Goodfellows. The draft Wills Bill 2025 makes things easier for lawyers and medical practitioners by removing the Banks v Goodfellows test so that only the Mental Capacity Act applies.
- Applications to the court – Another innovation is that if any of the formality requirements have not been met, but the testator intended to make a will and treated it as valid, the court can declare that the will is valid. This could lead to an increase in will disputes, as we will see how far the courts are willing to go in order to uphold defective wills.
There will be further debate about the form that electronic wills should take, and whilst the government has welcomed the report and accompanying draft Wills Bill 2025, it remains to be seen whether the draft bill will ever be passed by parliament. The Law Commission is an advisory body, so these proposed changes are not going to be automatically adopted.
Reform of this area of the law is undoubtedly overdue, and these recommendations have been welcomed by many. While we wait to see which areas of the bill come to fruition, GA Solicitors in Plymouth is here to help with any disputes about the validity of a will. This could be due to concerns about testamentary capacity, the formalities of the will or some other reason. Even without the Wills Bill 2025 in place, there are many ways we can ably support our clients to ensure a fair and legal outcome.
If you would like to speak with a member of the specialist wills, inheritance and trusts disputes team, then call 01752 203500 or email me directly via matthew.ellis@GAsolicitors.com.
You can also read my recent article about legally revoking a will here.
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