Thousands of family wills drawn up during the lockdown have no legal force because they were witnessed over video call, Whitehall sources revealed. The lockdown led to a boom in solicitors’ appointments held on platforms such as Zoom. Government sources said that family wills drawn up during the lockdown period have no legal force as they were held over video callBut Ministry of Justice (MoJ) officials have now ruled that wills witnessed remotely cannot be legally recognised because the witnesses have to be physically present with a ‘clear line of sight’. To avert the chaos of endless legal challenges, the MoJ is planning to bring in a law in September which will retrospectively legalise all ‘video wills’ since January 31.

Source: Daily Mail July 04, 2020 21:48 UTC