For more than a century, the law governing wills in England and Wales has remained largely unchanged. The Wills Act 1837, though remarkably durable, belongs to a world of quill pens, wet seals, and family solicitors who knew every client by name.
It is worth remembering that 1837 was a pivotal year in legal and civil history. Alongside the Wills Act, Parliament introduced the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 1837, just one year after the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836. Together, these established a national system of civil registration for births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales. This landmark reform created the General Register Office (GRO) and mandated the appointment of local registrars—replacing centuries of parish-based record-keeping.
In doing so, it laid the foundations for the modern record system that probate researchers and genealogists rely on every day. The same legislative moment that standardised how we document life’s beginnings and endings also formalised how we record its final wishes. Nearly two centuries later, both systems are being tested by the digital age.
Why Reform Was Needed
Anyone working in wills and probate knows how restrictive the formality rules can be. Perfectly valid wishes can be rejected because of a missing signature or a technicality, the pandemic introduced digital wills when video-witnessed wills temporarily sat in a legal grey area. At the same time, disputes over capacity and influence have grown, driven by an ageing population, complex families, and the rise of online will-making.
The Law Commission’s Modernising Wills Law Report (May 2025) seeks to address this by introducing flexibility, modernisation, and a better balance between protecting the vulnerable and respecting genuine intention, accompanied by a draft Bill for a new Wills Act.
Key Reforms on the Horizon
- Electronic Wills Perhaps the most striking proposal is the formal recognition of electronic wills—documents created, signed, and stored digitally. The Law Commission’s recommendation, detailed in their May 2025 report, suggests that an electronic Will would be valid provided it meets an “additional formality requirement” for digital security via a reliable system. This is a crucial step towards future-proofing the law, even though the exact technical standards are yet to be defined by government regulation.
- Abolishing Automatic Revocation on Marriage The automatic revocation of a Will upon marriage—a rule dating back to Victorian notions of property and patriarchy, and one that has facilitated modern “predatory marriages”—will finally be abolished. This change is welcomed as a necessary protection for vulnerable individuals.
- Modernising Capacity and Protecting the Vulnerable The outdated Banks v Goodfellow standard (1870) for testamentary capacity will be replaced, with the test for capacity to make a Will aligned with the modern Mental Capacity Act 2005. Furthermore, the reforms propose an increased protection against undue influence, enabling courts to infer undue influence where reasonable grounds for suspicion exist, shifting the burden of proof.
- Judicial Power to Validate “Defective” Wills (Dispensing Power) Courts will gain a powerful new “dispensing power” to recognise Wills that fail formal requirements (like a missing signature or improper witnessing) if there is clear evidence that the document reflects the deceased’s settled testamentary intention. In theory, this could open the door for informal documents like emails, videos, or even voice notes to be accepted.
Implications for Practitioners and the Public
For the public, these changes promise greater accessibility and fairness. For practitioners, they present both opportunity and complexity.
Firms will need to reassess how they take instructions, store documents, and record capacity. The emphasis on digital validity will push us to combine legal precision with robust data security and ethical safeguards. As the Law Commission pointed out, electronic Wills will need to be made on a “reliable system” to ensure security and prevent tampering.
Probate, Property, and the Bigger Picture
At the same time, wider pressures on the probate system remain acute. While the HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has made notable progress—with the average waiting time for a digital Grant of Probate in April 2025 steady at around 4.9 weeks compared to a peak of 15.8 weeks in late 2023—significant challenges persist.
Paper applications still face considerably longer delays (averaging over 12 weeks in April 2025), and complexities related to Inheritance Tax investigations, property sales, and contentious probate mean that the overall process for complex estates remains lengthy, often taking 24 to 36 months or more to complete.
These reforms need to be more than the validity of a signature; they are about trust—in institutions, in families, and in the process of passing wealth across generations.
What Else Should Change
While the Law Commission’s proposals are an important step, they only address the Will itself. The probate process, which is the mechanism for executing the Will, is still burdened by inconsistent safeguards that impact due diligence.
There is an urgent need for live verification and tighter document security, particularly around the issue of sealed Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration. At present, sealed copies can be obtained and circulated far too easily, often without proper checks on who is requesting them or why.
Introducing a live validation system—similar to the approach used by the Land Registry—would allow solicitors, financial institutions, and regulators to confirm instantly whether a grant is genuine and current. Access could be controlled through secure log-ins or time-limited digital verification.
Reforms should also consider:
- Digital watermarking or encryption of official copies.
- Centralised revocation tracking for Grants and Letters of Administration.
- Enhanced data-sharing between the Probate Registry, Land Registry, and financial institutions to flag anomalies faster.
What Comes Next
The Law Commission’s draft Bill, aimed at replacing the Wills Act 1837, has been submitted to Parliament. The Government is expected to give its official initial response to the recommendations by November 2025, with a full response and potential introduction of new laws expected by May 2026.
Final Thoughts
The law of wills is more than a collection of procedural rules—it is society’s way of honouring the final expression of personal autonomy. As we step into the digital era, our challenge is to ensure that modernisation does not come at the cost of certainty, dignity, or compassion.
Whether written on parchment or typed on a tablet, a will remains a human act: the ultimate statement of trust, memory, and meaning.
EXPLORE