Electronic wills could soon become a legal reality, making it easier to write and store your will securely online without physical paper or in-person witnesses.
Electronic wills will still need to be signed and witnessed. But the process would use secure digital tools, such as identity verification and encrypted signatures (e.g. DocuSign), to ensure that the will is genuine. The system will still need to clearly show who signed what, when, and how, making it harder to tamper with. The potential to use a blockchain needs to be contemplated.
This reform by adopting electronic wills is not just about replacing paper wills. If someone still wants to write and sign their will the traditional way (with paper of course), that will still be fully allowed under the Wills Act. The idea behind the reform is to give people more options, especially for those who find digital tools more accessible or who cannot easily get to a solicitor’s office or where the witnesses are overseas.
Electronic wills will still need to be signed and witnessed. But the process would use secure digital tools, such as identity verification and encrypted signatures (e.g. DocuSign), to ensure that the will is genuine. The system will still need to clearly show who signed what, when, and how, making it harder to tamper with. The potential to use a blockchain needs to be contemplated.
This reform by adopting electronic wills is not just about replacing paper wills. If someone still wants to write and sign their will the traditional way (with paper of course), that will still be fully allowed under the Wills Act. The idea behind the reform is to give people more options, especially for those who find digital tools more accessible or who cannot easily get to a solicitor’s office or where the witnesses are overseas.